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^  it  ^:-- 


M^^^m^m 


pi.-'  -      ■'  (.F 

PRIIIOKTOII 


KEOLOGIGAL 


Vi-^ 


BV  4811 

.G73 

1868 

Graham, 

Mary 

Jane, 

1803- 

1830. 

Truth  and  grace;  or 

,  The 

/// '//      ///// '     /  ////  /  /////  X 


TRUTH  AND  GRACE; 


The  Works  of  Mary  Jane  Graham. 


Witb  a  mtxixmt. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
ALEXANDER  KIRKPATRICK. 

1  8  6  8. 


/ 


!■'■■  "CSTOII 

31 

\  TirF.OLOGIG&L 


The  author  of  the  following  pages  departed 
to  her  heavenly  rest  more  than  a  generation  since, 
and  her  little  volumes,  passing  through  several 
editions,  have  been  highly  prized  and  useful  to 
great  numbers  of  the  Lord's  people,  down  to  the 
present  time. 

Of  late  years,  however,  they  have  in  a  measure 
passed  out  of  circulation,  though  never  more 
needed  or  adapted  to  be  useful ;  and  it  has  been 
deemed  a  wise  and  timely  service  to  the  cause 
of  Christ  to  bring  them  again  before  the  church 
and  the  public. 

In  the  present  issue  the  two  volumes  are  com- 
bined in  one  of  moderate  size  and  cost,  without 
abridgment,  except  the  omitting  of  a  few  lines 
relating  exclusively  to  the  Church  of  England, 
and  having  no  relevancy  or  importance  in  this 
country. 


4  PREFACE. 

A  short  memoir  has  also  been  prefixed,  taken 
from  the  larger  and  valuable  work  of  the  Rev. 
Charles  Brydges. 

The  blessing  of  God  is  humbly  invoked  on 
this  effort,  put  forth  in  faith  that  he  will  accept 
and  use  the  book  for  time  to  come  in  accom- 
plishing still  wider  good  to  souls  and  greater 
glory  to  his  holy  name. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Memoir  of  Miss  Maey  Jane  Graham 9 

The  Test  of  Truth,  Part  1 57 

The  Test  of  Truth,  Part  II 100 

THE  FREENESS  OF  GRACE. 

Original,  Sin 157 

Free  Grace 171 

Electing  Grace 201 


1* 


MEMOIR. 


A  MEMOIR 


MISS  MARY  JANE  GRAHAM. 


Mary  Jane  Graham  was  born  in  London,  April 
11,  1803.  Her  father  was  engaged  in  a  respectable 
business,  from  which  he  retired  a  few  years  before 
his  daughter's  death  Tand  chiefly  from  regard  to  her 
delicate  health),  to  the  village  of  Stoke-Fleming, 
near  Dartmouth,  Devon.  She  appears  to  have  been 
the  subject  of  early  religious  convictions.  At  the 
age  of  seven  she  had  acquired  those  liabits  of  secret 
prayer,  which  may  be  considered  a  favourable  mark 
of  Divine  influence  upon  her  soul.  But  we  will 
give  the  history  of  this  era  of  her  life  in  her  own 
words.  To  a  friend,  who  had  evinced  some  incre- 
dulity of  the  genuineness  or  permanency  of  early 
impressions  of  religion,  she  thus  writes. 

''March  20,  1827. 

"You  appear,  my  dear  friend,  to  think  very  early 
piety  too  wonderful  a  thing  to  be  true.  It  is  won- 
derful,— so  wonderful   that,  when  David  was  con- 

9 


10  MEMOIR  OF 

templating  the  starry  firmament,  he  was  drawn  for 
a  moment  from  his  meditation  on  the  wonders  he 
there  beheld,  by  the  still  greater  wonder  of  '  God's 
ordaining  strength  out  of  the  mouths  of  babes  and 
sucklings.'^  But  David's  wonder  and  yours  were 
of  a  very  different  nature — he  wondered  and  adored. 
Jesus  too — that  'man  of  sorrows' — once  'rejoiced 
in  spirit,'  because  God  '  had  hid  these  things  from 
the  wise  and  prudent,  and  revealed  them  unto 
babes.  Even  so.  Father;  for  so  it  seemed  good  in 
thy  sight.' ^  'Even  so,  Lord  Jesus;  in  thy  rejoicing 
will  I  too  rejoice;  let  the  world  think  me  a  fool  or 
an  enthusiast,  or  beside  myself,  as  they  thought 
thee.'  The  story  of  '  Little  Henry  and  his  Bearer,' 
to  which  I  believe  you  allude,  I  have  been  assured 

by  Miss ,  is  every  word  of  it  true.    Do  not  then 

bring  upon  yourself  the  dreadful  sin  of  limiting  the 
power  of  the  Holy  One  of  Israel.  Jesus  has  said, 
*  Suffer  little  children  to  come ;'  ^  and  they  will 
come,  if  he  calls  them.  As  facts  are  the  strongest 
of  all  j^roofs,  bear  with  me  a  little  longer,  while  I 
tell  you  briefly  the  history  of  a  child,  for  the  truth 
of  which  I  can  vouch.  I  knew  a  little  girl,  about 
sixteen  years  and  a  half  ago.  She  was  much  like 
other  children,  as  full  of  sin  and  vanity  as  ever  she 
could  hold;  and  her  parents  had  not  as  yet  taken 
much  pains  to  talk  to  her  about  religion.     So  she 

^  Psalm  viii.  1-4. 

2  Luko  X.  21.     This,  though   not  the   direct,   is  an   inclusive 
meaning  of  the  declaration. 

3  Mark  x.  14. 


MARY  JANE    GRAHAM.  11 

^vcnt  on  in  the  way  of  her  own  evil  heart,  and 
thought  herself  a  very  good  little  girl,  because  she 
said  her  prayers  every  night  and  morning,  and  was 
not  more  passionate,  wilful,  and  perverse  than  most 
of  her  young  companions.  The  God  of  love  did 
not  think  this  sinful  child  too  young  to  learn  of 
Jesus.  He  so  ordered  it  about  the  time  I  am  speak- 
ing of,  when  she  was  just  seven  years  old,  that  she 
was  led  by  a  pious  servant  into  some  almshouses 
belonging  to  Rowland  Hill,  who  had  just  been 
preaching  at  them.  The  servant  and  an  aged 
woman  entered  into  a  long  conversation  together, 
to  which  the  little  girl  listened,  and  wondere<l  what 
could  make  them  like  to  talk  about  such  things. 
But  at  the  close  of  it,  the  old  woman  took  the  child 
affectionately  by  the  hand,  and  said  to  her,  'My 
dear  child,  make  the  Lord  Jesus  your  friend  now 
that  you  are  so  young ;  and  when  you  come  to  be 
as  old  as  I  am,  he'll  never  leave  you  nor  forsake 
you.'  God  the  Spirit  sent  these  simple  words  to 
the  poor  simple  child's  heart.  She  walked  home  in 
silence  by  her  nurse's  side,  thinking  how  she  could 
get  Jesus  to  be  her  friend.  Then  she  remembered 
how  often  she  had  slighted  this  dear  Saviour; 
how  she  had  read  of  him  in  the  Bible,  and  been 
wearied  of  the  subject;  how  she  had  heard  the 
minister  preach  Jesus,  and  wished  the  long  dry 
sermon  over;  how  she  had  said  prayers  to  him 
without  minding  what  she  said ;  how  she  had  passed 
days,  weeks,  and  months  without  thinking  of  him  ; 
how  she  had   loved  her  play,  her  books,  and  her 


12  MEMOIR  OF 

toys,  and  her  playfellows,  —  all,  all  better  than 
Jesus.  Then  the  Holy  Spirit  convinced  her  of  sin. 
She  saw  that  no  one  good  thing  dwelt  in  her,  and 
that  she  deserved  to  be  cast  away  from  God  for- 
ever. Would  Jesus  love  her  now?  Would  he  ever 
forgive  her?  She  feared  not;  but  she  would  try. 
She  would  make  herself  very  good,  and  then,  per- 
haps, Jesus  would  be  her  friend.  But  the  more  this 
little  girl  tried  to  be  good,  the  more  her  naughty 
heart  got  the  better  of  her ;  for  she  was  trying  in 
her  own  strength.  She  was  led  to  give  up  trying  in 
that  way ;  and  many  long  nights  did  she  spend  in 
praying  'with  strong  crying  and  tears'  to  Jesus, 
that  he  would  teach  her  how  to  get  her  sins  par- 
doned, and  make  her  fit  to  have  him  for  her  friend. 
Let  me  mention  it  for  the  encouragement  of  those 
who  seek  Jesus,  that  he  did  not  disdain  to  listen  to 
the  prayers  of  this  little  child.  He  put  it  into  her 
heart  to  read  the  Bible,  of  which,  though  she  under- 
stood not  all,  yet  she  gathered  enough  to  give  her 
some  comfort.  One  day  her  attention  was  fixed  on 
these  words  : — '  The  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketli 
away  the  sin  of  the  world.' ^  Now,  something  that 
could  take  away  sin  was  just  what  this  little  girl 
wanted ;  and  she  asked  her  father  to  tell  her  who 
this  Lamb  of  God  was.  He  explained  the  precious 
verse.  But  who  can  describothe  raptures  which  filled 
the  bosom  of  this  little  child,  when  made  to  compre- 
hend that  the '  blood  of  Jesus  cleanseth  from  all  sin' ! 

1  John  i.  29. 


MARY  JANE   GRAHAM.  13 

Now  she  fled  to  Jesus  indeed ;  now  she  knew  that  he 
had  loved  her,  and  given  himself  for  her ;  now  the 
Spirit  of  God,  who  often  'chooseth  the  weak  and 
foolish  things. of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise  and 
mighty,'^  'shed  abroad  the  love  of  God  in  the  heart' ^ 
of  a  weak  and  foolish  child,  and  '  filled  her  with 
peace  and  joy  in  believing.'^  She  had  no  one  whom 
she  could  talk  to  of  these  things.  But  she  held 
sweet  converse  with  her  reconciled  God  and  Father ; 
and  gladly  would  she  have  quitted  this  life  to  go 
and  dwell  with  Jesus.  Since  then  she  has  spent 
nearly  seventeen  years  of  mingled  happiness  and 
pain.  But  she  has  had  Jesus  for  her  friend;  and 
he  never  has,  and  never  will,  forsake  her.*  She 
has  forsaken  him  more  than  once  for  a  season,  and 
turned  to  follow  the  vain  things  of  the  world.  But 
her  Shepherd's  eye  has  been  over  her  in  her  wan- 
derings, and  he  has  never  suffered  her  quite  to 
depart  from  him.  To  this  day  her  vain  and 
treacherous  heart  is  continually  leading  her  to  pro- 
voke her  heavenly  Friend.  He  'visits  her  trans- 
gressions with  the  rod,  and  her  iniquity  with 
stripes ;'  but  he  has  sworn  *  never  to  take  his 
loving-kindness  from  her,  nor  to  suffer  his  faithful- 
ness to  fail.'^  She  is  constrained  to  acknowledge 
that  during  all  this  time  she  has  never  done  one 
thing  that  could  merit  God's  favour.  Free  grace, 
free  mercy,  are  all  her  song:  'It  is  of  the  Lord's 

1  1  Cor.  i.  27.  2  i^om.  v.  5.  '  Rom.  xv.  13, 

4  Heb.  xiii.  5.  &  Psalm  Ixxxix.  32,  33. 


14  MEMOIR   OF 

mercy  she  has  not  long  ago  been  consumed.'^  She 
is  quite  sure  she  could  never  have  changed  her  own 
heart.  No ;  God  has  begun  the  good  work  in  her, 
and  he  must  carry  it  on ;  and  from  first  to  last,  let 
glory  be  ascribed  to  him,  and  let  her  take  shame 
and  confusion  to  herself.  At  this  moment  she  de- 
sires to  live,  if  she  may  be  made  the  means  of  con- 
verting one  sinner  to  Jesus;  but  if  not,  she  would 
rather  'depart  and  be  with  Christ,  which  is  far 
better.'  She  is  far  from  despising  earthly  blessings. 
Every  morsel  she  puts  into  her  mouth,  the  very 
air  she  breathes,  is  made  sweet  and  refreshing '  by 
the  loving  hand  that  sends  it.  Once  there  was  a 
curse  on  all  her  earthly  blessings.  But  now  '  Christ 
hath  redeemed  her  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  being 
made  a  curse  for  her.'  ^  She  would  give  it  as  her 
living  experience,  and  leave  it  when  she  goes  hence 
as  her  dying  testimony,  that  there  is  nothing  worth 
living  for  except  to  know  him,  and  see  others  come 
to  him  and  wash  their  guilty  souls  in  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb.  God  has  given  her  the  blessing  of  seeing 
a  happy  change  take  place  in  some  of  the  dear  com- 
panions of  her  childhood  and  youth.  She  waits 
upon  him  for  the  salvation  of  the  rest ;  and  there  is 
no  one,  whom  she  longs  after  more  ardently  in  the 
Lord,  than  that  dear  and  valued  friend  of  her  ear- 
liest days,  to  whom  this  letter  is  addressed,  and 
to  whom  she  wishes  every  spiritual  blessing,  that 
God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy 

1  Lam.  iii.  22.  2  Gal.  iii.  13. 


MARY   JANE    GKAHAM.  15 

Ghost,  can  bestow,  now  and  for  evermore!     Amen, 
and  Amen." 

Some  apparent  discrepancy  may  be  observed 
between  this  exquisitely  beautiful  and  natural  let- 
ter, and  her  published  account  of  this  important 
crisis.^  Her  apprehensions  of  Divine  truth,  as  ex- 
pressed in  her  letter,  were  indeed  clear  and  enliven- 
ing far  beyond  the  average  spiritual  capacity  of 
children.  Yet  her  "  view  of  many  of  the  doctrines 
of  Christianity,"  which  she  afterwards  so  fully  de- 
veloped and  so  richly  enjoyed,- were  at  this  time 
"very  indistinct."  Doubtless  also  much  of  natural 
feeling  and  excitement  was  mingled  with  these  early 
impressions  of  religion;  while  what  was  of  a  spirit- 
ual character,  as  she  afterwards  discovered,  was 
not  sufficiently  grounded  upon  that  sense  of  uni- 
versal guilt  and  helplessness  which  prostrates  the 
sinner  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  simply  dependent 
upon  a  free  salvation.  This  superficial  cast  of  im- 
pression— without  invalidating  the  reality  of  a  Divine 
change — will  account  for  the  instability  which 
marked  her  early  course  in  the  ways  of  God.  From 
her  own  history  we  learn  that  she  "was  enabled  to 
walk  with  God  in  sincerity  and  without  any  con- 
siderable declension  during  the  greater  part  of  her 
childhood,  and  the  commencement  of  a  riper  age." 
After  this  period,  however,  "more  than  once,"  as  her 
letter  informs  us,  she  "  forsook"  her  heavenly  Friend, 
"turned  to  follow  the  vain  things  of  the  world,"  and 

1  Test  of  Truth. 


16  MEMOIR   OF 

"went  on  frowardly  in  the  way  of  her  own  heart" — 
"  leaning  to  her  own  understanding,"  and  led  cap- 
tive in  her  own  folly. 

Of  this  period  future  notice  will  be  given.  Mean- 
while we  revert  to  her  early  years  as  spent  under 
the  roof  of  her  parents  or  at  school.  Her  parents 
considered  her  virtues  as  those  0/  every  day — that  is, 
habitual — and  not  merely  called  forth  on  particular 
occasions.  She  was  a  most  amiable,  affectionate, 
and  dutiful  child,  seldom  needing  correction,  tender- 
hearted when  told  of  her  faults,  and  by  her  general 
kindness  of  disposition  attaching  all  the  members 
of  the  household  to  herself.  She  was  remarkably 
free  from  selfishness ;  always  ready  to  yield  to  her 
companions,  even  to  deprive  herself  of  what  she 
valued.  Her  little  pocket-money  was  generally  re- 
served for  some  object  of  distress,  or  for  some  token 
of  affection  to  a  friend. 

Her  quickness  of  mind  was  a  subject  of  early 
observation.  Her  reading  was  chiefly  obtained  by 
attending  to  the  lessons  which  were  given  to  her 
brother  then  preparing  for  school.  She  was  seldom 
seen  without  a  book  in  her  hand,  and  seemed  never 
so  happy  as  when  employing  herself  in  the  improve- 
ment of  her  mind.  Yet  this  thoughtful  cast  of 
character  was  by  no  means  tinged  with  unnatural 
gloom.  In  all  the  harmless  games  of  childhood  none 
of  her  companions  excelled  her  in  playful  activity ;  ^ 

1  One  of  her  early  friends,  however,  remarks  that  her  games 
and  manner  of  amusing  partook  more  of  imagination  and  of 
genius  than  those  of  the  generality  of  children. 


MARY  JANE   GRAHAM.  17 

while  ill  the  midst  of  her  cheerful  temperament,  it 
was  abundantly  evident  that  the  main  concern  of 
religion  was  uppermost  in  her  mind.  "  I  recollect," 
— her  cousin  writes, — "that  when  we  were  quite  little 
children,  she  made  some  attempt  to  talk  to  me  about 
religion — once  especially,  when  we  were  sitting  be- 
hind the  curtain  in  the  drawing-room  at .     I 

did  not  like  the  subject,  and  therefore  walked  away 
and  joined  my  more  worldly-minded  companions." 

Her  school  career  commenced  soon  after  she  was 
seven  years  old.  She  was,  however,  shortly  removed, 
from  ill  health,  and  again,  about  the  age  of  ten,  sent 
to  a  school  of  a  different  kind.  Many  of  her  com- 
panions, who  survive  her,  will  probably  long  pre- 
serve the  remembrance  of  that  peculiar  kindness 
and  gentleness  of  spirit,  which  combined  with  her 
superior  powers.  One  of  them  remarks  her  great 
carefulness  to  screen,  as  far  as  it  was  lawful  to  do 
so,  the  faults  of  her  fellows,  and  her  anxiety  to 
plead  for  them  when  in  disgrace;  and  so  powerful 
was  her  advocacy,  that  her  preceptress  was  con- 
strained to  remove  out  of  her  way,  w^ien  her  judg- 
ment compelled  her  to  persevere  in  her  discipline. 
In  all  the  school  difficulties,  she  was  a  constant  re- 
source, ever  ready  and  willing  to  assist,  without  any 
assumption  upon  the  ground  of  her  acknowledged 
superiority.  One  trait  of  peculiar  loveliness  was 
here  exhibited  (the  spirit  of  which  was  marked  on 
various  occasions  in  after-life),  in  her  consideration 
of  any  of  her  companions  who  from  any  unfavour- 
able causes  might  appear  to  be  neglected.     These 

2* 


18  MEMOIR   OF 

were  the  objects  of  her  particular  notice,  and  with 
them  she  shared  all  her  little  indulgences. 

Her  religious  impressions  appear  to  have  been 
cherished  by  the  familiar  exhortations  of  the  hus- 
band of  her  preceptress,  and  by  devotional  exer- 
cises with  those  of  her  companions,  who  were  living 
under  the  practical  influence  of  their  Christian  in- 
struction. To  one  of  them  she  proposed  to  learn 
every  day  a  portion  of  Scripture  in  private,  and  to 
repeat  it  to  each  other  when  they  retired  to  rest. 
At  this  time  she  committed  to  memory  the  whole 
of  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  besides  other  portions  of 
the  sacred  volume. 

At  the  age  of  twelve  her  delicate  health  again 
occasioned  her  removal  from  school.  Her  illness 
lasted  for  about  two  months,  during  vi'hich  time, 
when  confined  upon  the  sofa,  she  committed  to 
memory  the  whole  book  of  Psalms.  Indeed,  her 
powers  of  memory  were  of  an  extraordinary  order. 
She  w^s  much  delighted  with  Milton's  Paradise 
Lost,  and  had  learned  the  greater  part,  if  not  the 
whole,  of  that  magnificent  poem.  For  many  suc- 
cessive mornings  she  repeated  to  her  father  most 
correctly  upwards  of  three  hundred  lines  each 
morning.  Upon  her  recovery  from  illness  she 
passed  several  months  with  a  careful  servant  by 
the  seaside.  So  instinctive  were  her  habits  of  active 
usefulness,  that  she  employed  herself,  though  only 
in  her  thirteenth  year,  in  collecting  a  few  children 
for  the  purpose  of  instruction,  and  in  distributing 
tracts.     In  returning  home  to  her  parents,  she  en- 


MARY   JANE    GEAHAM.  19 

joyed  with  them  the  rich  and  resi^onsible  privik'go 
of  the  iniuistry  of  the  late  Rev.  Samuel  Crowther, 
Vicar  of  Christ  Church,  Newgate  Street, — an  emi- 
nent "  watchman  of  Ephraim,"  now  with  his  God.^ 
Under  his  faithful  and  affectionate  instruction  she 
was  brought  to  the  ordinance  of  Confirmation  about 
the  age  of  sixteen,  and  publicly  "joined  herself 
to  the  Lord  in  a  perpetual  covenant  never  to  be 
forgotten."^ 

About  the  age  of  seventeen.  Miss  Graham's  mind 
underwent  a  most  extraordinary  revolution.  She 
fell,  for  a  few  months,  from  the  heavenly  atmos- 
phere of  communion  with  God,  into  the  dark  and 
dreary  regions  of  infidelity.  Allusion  has  already 
been  made  to  this  afflicting  circumstance,  in  her 
letter.'  But  for  a  most  interesting  and  graphic 
detail,  the  reader  must  be  referred  to  her  own  pub- 
lished account ;  *  some  digest  of  which  will  here  be 
given,  in  order  to  connect  the  thread  of  her  history, 
and  to  exhibit  a  clear  view  of  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant eras  in  her  life. 

Miss  Graham's  mind  opened  in  a  metaphysical 
form, — unfavourable  to  a  simple  reception  of  truth. 
And  this,  connected  with  a  defective  apprehension 
of   her    lost    estate,    induced    a    spirit   of   self-de- 

1  IIos.  ix.  8.  s  Jer.  1.  5.  ' 

3  "She  had  foranken  him  more  than  once," — evidently  includes 

a  reference  to  this  history.     In  the  recollection,  however,  of  her 

complete  restoration,   she   added, — "  He  has  never  suflered   her 

quite"  (i.  e.  ultofjetUer  and  Jinalli/)  "  to  depart  from  him." 

*  Test  of  Truth. 


20  MEMOIR    OF 

pendence, — one  of  the  most  subtle  and  successful 
hindrances  to  the  Christian  life.^  Thus  was  the 
way  opened  to  a  secret  habit  of  backsliding  from 
God.  The  foolish  vanities  of  the  world  for  a  while 
captivated  her  heart;  and  her  manners  were  re- 
marked to  be  like  those  of  other  thoughtless  girls 
of  her  own  age.  From  frivolity  she  sought  refuge 
in  her  more  solid  intellectual  pursuits.  All  sources 
of  self-gratification  within  her  power  were  resorted 
to  with  the  fruitless  attempt  of  obtaining  peace  in 
a  course  of  departure  from  God.  Wearied  at  length 
with  disappointment,  this  prodigal  child  "  began  to 
be  in  want;"  and  many  a  wishful  eye  did  she  cast 
towards  the  rich  provision  of  her  Father's  forsaken 
house.'^  In  turning,  however,  to  religion  for  com- 
fort, she  found,  to  use  her  own  words, — "Alas!  I 
had  no  religion :  I  had  refused  to  give  glory  to  the 
Lord  my  God;  now  my  feet  were  left  to  stumble 
upon  the  dark  mountains."^ 

The  doctrine  of  the  Divinity  of  Christ  had  often 

1  She  alludes  to  an  injury  which  her  own  mind,  in  common 
(as  she  conceives)  with  many  others,  had  received  from  adopting 
Doddridge's  form  of  covenanting  with  God.  (Rise  and  Pi-ogress, 
chapter  xvii.)  This  was  in  her  thirteenth  year.  Let  it,  however, 
be  remembered,  that,  though  this  mode  of  dedication  may  have 
frequently  ministered  to  a  legal  spirit,  yet  it  by  no  means  neces- 
sarily partakes  of  an  unevangelical  character.  This  "subscribing 
of  the  hand  unto  the  Lord"  has  been  found  by  many  eminent 
Christians  (as,  for  example,  in  Philip  Henry's  family)  to  be  a 
cord  of  love,  not  a  yoke  of  bondage.  Allusion  is  probably  made 
to  it  as  an  acceptable  ordinance  in  the  service  of  the  gospel, 
Isaiah  xliv.  3-5. 

2  Luke  XV.  14,  17.  ^  Test  of  Truth. 


MARY  JANE   GRAHAM.  21 

been  to  her  (as  to  many  other  minds  cast  into  the 
same  mould)  an  occasion  of  perplexity.  Now  it 
was  "  a  stone  of  stumbling,  and  a  rock  of  offence." 
Though  rej^eated  examination  had  fully  satisfied 
her  that  it  was  the  truth  of  the  Bible,  yet  so  repul- 
sive was  it  to  her  proud  heart,  that  she  was  led 
from  thence  to  question  the  truth  of  the  Bible  itself. 
"I  suspected" — said  she — "that  a  system  of  religion 
which  involved  such  apparent  absurdities,  could  not 
possibly  come  from  God.  Determining  to  sift  the 
matter  to  the  utmost,  I  eagerly  acquainted  myself 
with  the  arguments  for  and  against  Christianity. 
3Ii/  understanding  was  convinced  that  the  Scriptures 
ivere  Divine.  But  my  heart  refused  to  receive  the  con- 
viction. The  more  my  reason  was  comj^elled  to  assent 
to  their  truth,  the  more  I  secretly  disliked  the  doctrines 
of  the  Bible."' 

Continued  resistance  to  convictions  was  the 
natural  and  melancholy  result  of  this  inquiry.  She 
determined  to  lay  the  subject  aside  for  a  while,  still 
"  persuading  herself  that  there  must  be  flaws  in  the 
evidence  of  so  strange  a  history,"  which  only  her 
want  of  maturity  of  judgment  prevented  her  from 
discovering.  Those  early  religious  impressions,  that 
usually  form  a  bulwark  against  infidelity,  in  her 
case  proved  a  stumbling-block  to  her  faith.  Igno- 
rant of  *the  native  bias  of  hei.-  heart  against  the 
gospel,  she  considered  them  a:^  tlio  effect  of  pre- 
judice, before  her  mind  had  been  intelligently  in- 
formed or  exercised.  She  now,  therefore,  deter- 
1  Test  of  Truth. 


22  MEMOIK   OF 

mined  to  burst  her  chains,  and  to  think  and  ex- 
amine for  herself. 

Hitherto  she  had  confined  her  perplexities  within 
her  own  bosom;  partly  dreading  the  influence  of 
external  bias,  and  partly  fearing  to  infuse  into 
another's  mind  doubts  concerning  a  book  which, 
she  could  not  conceal  from  herself,  might  after  all 
be  true.  She  endeavoured  now  to  strengthen  her 
mind  by  pursuing  a  course  of  intellectual  study, 
with  the  direct  design  of  preserving  herself  from 
becoming  a  dupe  to  "  cunningly-devised  fables." 
And  here  she  did  not  fail  subsequently  to  ac- 
knowledge the  special  forbearance  and  wisdom  of 
her  heavenly  Father.  Justly  might  he  have  de- 
prived her  of  that  reason,  which  she  had  so  pre- 
sumptuously set  up  in  his  own  place.  Yet  was  he 
pleased  to  overrule  this  waywardness  of  his  child 
as  an  ultimate  means  of  her  restoration,  in  apply- 
ing her  course  of  mental  discipline  to  the  effectual 
discovery  of  the  fallacies  with  which  she  was  now 
deluded. 

The  immediate  effect,  however,  of  these  studies 
was  decidedly  injurious.  Their  absorbing  interest 
diverted  her  mind  from  the  main  subject  of  in- 
quiry; while  they  proved  also  a  temporary  refuge 
against  the  uneasy  disturbance  of  her  conscience. 
Even  her  intervals  of  reflection  were  too  easily 
soothed  by  the  indefinite  postponement  of  the  great 
concern  to  "  a  more  convenient  season."  Occa- 
sional convictions  Avere  indeed  felt,  but  without  any 
permanent  or  practical  influence. 


MARY  JANE    GRAHAM.  23 

Through  the  Divine  mercy,  this  state  of  infatua- 
tion did  not  prove  of  long  duration.  After  a  few 
months'  captivity,  she  was  brought,  though  not 
without  severe  conflict  of  mind,  to  the  full  light 
and  liberty  of  scriptural  truth.^  The  conviction  of 
the  being  of  a  God,  in  her  darkest  moments  had 
never  wholly  forsaken  her.  A  few  hours'  contem- 
plation of  the  starry  heavens  darted  into  her  mind 
a  piercing  reflection  upon  her  stupidity  and  in- 
gratitude, in  what  she  justly  called  an  "  unnatural 
and  parricidal  attempt  to  banish  God  from  his  own 
creation,  to  depose  him  from  his  natural  supremacy 
over  her  heart."  ^  Her  whole  life  now  appeared  to 
her  (what  indeed  the  Scriptures  declare  it  to  b.e) 
one  continued  act  of  sin  and  folly.  Her  con- 
victions, however,  of  sin — being  wholly  unconnected 
with  any  discovery  of  the  way  of  forgiveness  — 
naturally  tended  to  despondency.  Every  fresh 
sense  of  the  corruption  of  her  heart  and  of  the  un- 
sullied purity  of  the  Divine  character,  brought  with 
it  a  corresponding  sense  of  guilt.  She  could  expect, 
therefore,  nothing  but  punishment  proportioned  to 
the  infinite  sinfulness  of  her  oflTence.  She  could  not 
conceive  the  consistency  of  her  forgiveness  with  the 
claim  of  Divine  justice;  and  the  alternative  of  her 
eternal  punishment  seemed  even  less  dreadful  than 

*  It  may  be  remai-ked,  that  severe  providential  afflictions  about 
this  period  concurred  with  the  exercises  of  her  own  mind,  to 
awaken  her  mind  to  this  self-abasing  recollection  of  her  fearful 
dejiarture  from  God. 

2  Test  of  Truth.     Comp.  Rom.  i.  20,  21,  2S. 


24  MEMOIR    OF 

the  supposition  of  any  inconsistency  in  Him  who,  in 
her  view,  was  the  Perfection  of  Holiness.  "  I  had 
acquired" — she  remarked — "such  a  perception  of 
the  beauty  of  holiness,  that  the  thought  of  an  un- 
holy God  was  worse  than  hell  to  me.  I  felt  that  I 
had  rather  God  should  pour  out  on  me  all  the  vials 
of  his  wrath,  than  that,  carried  away  by  an  un- 
worthy softness  and  weakness,  he  should  forgive, 
and  thereby  encourage  sin.  To  undergo  eternal 
pu7iishment  was  horrible.  To  acknowledge  an  un- 
holy God  ivas  more  horrible.''''^ 

As  her  last  expedient,  her  despised  Bible  was 
brought  to  mind.  And  "how  different" — she  ob- 
serves— "was  the  temper  of  mind,  in  which  I  now 
addressed  myself  to  its  perusal,  from  that  in  which 
I  had  read  it  in  the  commencement  of  my  dis- 
belief of  Christianity!  I  was  no  longer  a  proud 
sophist,  triumphing  in  the  strength  and  penetration 
of  human  reason,  and  in  the  comprehensiveness  of 
human  knowledge.  The  contemplation  of  my  own 
ignorance,  weakness,  and  wickedness,  had  laid  my 
pride  in  the  dust.  My  eyes  were  opened  to  view 
myself  as  I  really  was, — depraved  and  blinded  in 
my  reason,  judgment,  aud  understanding.  And  this 
is  the  process  which  must  take  place  in  the  soul  of  every 
man,  before  he  can  pursue  the  search  after  truth  in  a 
right  spirit.'"^ 

Her  interest  was  early  directed  to  the  promises 
of  Divine  teaching  to  the  sincere  inquirer  after 
truth.   Their  suitableness  fixed  her  attention.   Their 

1  Test  of  Truth.  2  Ibid. 


MARY   JANE   GRAHAM.  25 

freeness  encouraged  her  Iieart.  "Ask,  and  it  shall 
be  given  you ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find.  He  givetli 
his  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him" — especially 
arrested  her.^  She  determined  to  make  trial  of 
them,  conceiving  that  their  fulfilment  in  her  own 
case  would  be  a  ^'Test  of  the  Truth''  of  the  book 
which  held  them  forth  for  her  acceptance.  Though 
hindered  at  first  by  a  sense  of  unworthiness,  she 
ventured  to  apply;  justly  considering,  that  what- 
ever might  be  her  apprehensions  of  her  own  de- 
merit, yet  a  state  of  submission  and  desire  could 
not  be  so  displeasing  to  God  as  one  of  carelessness 
and  rebellion.'^  But  the  description  of  this  anxious 
crisis  must  be  given  in  her  own  striking  words. 
"  Impelled  by  these  reflections — fearful  and  uncer- 
tain, but  with  uncontrollable,  unutterable  longings, 
I  directed  my  applications  'To  the  unknoivn  God.' 
O  my  Redeemer!  the  first  breathings  of  my  soul 
were  not  uttered  in  thy  name!  I  rushed  into  tlie 
presence  of  my  Judge  without  a  mediator.  But 
doubtless  even  then  thy  comeliness  was  thrown  over 
the   deformity  of  my   soul ;    and   the   eye   of  my 

1  Luke  xi.  9-11.  The  drawing  out  of  this  argument  forms  the 
first  part  of  "  The  Test  of  Truth," — upon  which  a  venerable 
clergyman  remarks,  "I  hope  I  have  been  for  many  years  a 
suitor  for  this  promise.  But  I  never  before  felt  myself  so  intelli- 
gently encouraged  and  animated  to  persist  in  my  humble  petition 
for  more  and  more  of  Divine  knowledge."  See  also  these  pro- 
mises, and  the  whole  subject  of  "  The  Test  of  Truth,"  powerfully 
illustrated  in  the  Bishop  of  Calcutta's  Lectures  on  the  Evidences 
of  Christianity, — Lecture  XIX. 

2  Test  of  Truth. 


26  MEMOIR   OF 

Ftither  beheld  me  with  pity,  for  thy  clear  name's 
sake.  My  prayer  ascended  up  to  heaven,  fragrant 
with  the  incense  of  thy  merits;  though  the  poor 
wretch  who  offered  it  thought  to  please  God  by 
leaving  thee  out  of  it."^ 

In  this  prostration  of  soul,  she  continued  "  watch- 
ing daily  at  her  Lord's  gates,  waiting  at  the  posts 
of  his  doors."  It  need  scarcely  be  added,  —  she 
did  not  seek  in  vain.^  The  Divine  character  now 
appeared  before  her, — not — as  before — in  its  con- 
suming holiness,  but  in  the  combined  glory  of  holi- 
ness and  love.  Her  ajDprehensions  of  sin,  of  Christ, 
and  of  the  whole  system  of  Christian  truth,  were 
now  irradiated  with  heavenly  light;  and  with  sim- 
plicity, and  "  godly  sincerity"  of  "  heart,"  she  was 
enabled  to  "  believe  unto  righteousness."  The  cha- 
racter of  Christ,  as  a  proof  of  the  credibility  of  the 
Christian  revelation,  arrested  her  particular  atten- 
tion. A  minute  scrutiny  of  his  spotless  life  was 
most  satisfactory  in  its  result.^  "  The  more" — said 
she— "  I  studied  this  Divine  character,  the  more  I 
grew  up  as  it  were  into  its  simplicity  and  holiness, 

1  Test  of  Truth.  It  may  be  asked,  "Where  was  all  that 
knowledge  and  faith  expressed  at  her  first  reception  of  the 
gospel?"  (See  her  letter,  pp.  9-12.)  But,  in  fact,  her  infidelity- 
was  a  black  cloud, — intercepting  all  present  apprehensions  of 
faith  and  intelligence.  There  are  eminent  Christians  in  the 
church,  who  have  "  entered  into  this  cloud,"  and  whose  recol- 
hictions  are  more  or  less  familiar  with  this  agonizing  but  tri- 
umphant conflict. 

'^  See  Prov.  viii.  34,  35,-  Isa.  Ixiv.  5;  xlv.  19. 

3  Test  of  Truth. 


,  "  MARY   JANE    GRAHAM.  27 

the  more  my  understanding  was  enabled  to  shake 
off  those  slavish  and  sinful  prejudices  which  had 
hindered  me  from  appreciating  its  excellence.  Truly 
his  words  were  dearer  to  me  *  than  my  necessary 
food,' — he  was  my  'All  in  all.'  I  did  not  want  to 
have  any  knowledge,  goodness,  or  strength,  inde- 
pendently of  him.  I  had  rather  be  '  accepted  in 
the  Beloved,'  than  received  (had  that  been  possible) 
u])on  the  score  of  my  own  merits.  I  had  rather 
walk,  leaning  upon  his  arm,  than  have  a  stock  of 
strength  given  me  to  perform  the  journey  alone. 
To  learn,  as  a  fool,  of  Christ ;  this  was  better  to  me 
than  to  have  the  knowledge  of  an  angel  to  find  out 
things  for  myself."^ 

After  her  recovery  from  this  fearful  snare  of 
Satan,  she  was  mercifully  preserved  from  "  turning 
again  to  folly,"  and  led  forth  in  "  the  path  of  the 

^  This  is  not  a  solitary  instance  of  impression  from  the  con- 
templation of  the  character  of  Christ.  Even  Mr.  Chuhb  must 
have  felt  some  conviction,  when  he  describes  his  life  "  as  a  beau- 
tiful picture  of  human  nature  in  its  native  purity  and  sim- 
plicity; and  showing  at  once  what  excellent  creatures  men  would 
be,  when  under  the  influence  and  power  of  that  gospel  which  he 
preached  unto  them."  (True  Gospel,  p.  56.)  Rousseau's  ex- 
quisite contrast  between  Socrates  and  Christ  i*  well  known,  con- 
cluding with  the  remarkable  acknowledgment  respecting  the 
latter: — "The  inventor  of  such  a  personage  would  be  a  more 
astonishing  character  than  the  hero."  Yet  could  this  man's 
heart  resist  the  clear  conviction  of  his  judgment.  "  /  eaniiot" — 
he  subjoins — ''believe  the  Gonpel."  His  Confessions,  however, 
clearly  trace  his  unbelief  to  its  proper  cause, —  the  love  of  sin. 
See  John  iii.  19,  20, — a  text  which  throws  more  light  upon  the 
secret  springs  of  infidelity,  than  whole  volumes  that  have  been 
written  upon  the  subject. 


28  MEMOIR   OF 

just,"  ^  with  increasing  light,  strength,  and  establish- 
ment. "From  that  moment" — she  adds — "I  ceased 
to  stumble  at  the  doctrines  of  the  cross.  The  doc- 
trines of  Scripture,  which  had  before  appeared  to 
me  an  inexplicable  mass  of  confusion  and  contra- 
dictions, were  now  written  on  my  understanding 
with  the  clearness  of  a  sunbeam.  Above  all,  that 
once  abhorred  doctrine  of  the  Divinity  of  Christ 
was  become  exceeding  precious  to  me.  The  ex- 
ternal evidences  of  Christianity,  though  I  now  per- 
ceived all  their  force,  were  no  longer  necessary  to 
my  conviction.  From  that  time" — she  concludes — 
"  I  have  continued  to  '  sit  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  and 
to  hear  his  word ;'  taking  him  for  my  Teacher  and 
Guide  in  things  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual.  He 
has  found  in  me  a  disciple  so  slow  of  compre- 
hension, so  prone  to  forget  his  lessons  and  to  act  in 
opposition  to  his  commands,  that,  were  he  not  in- 
finitely '  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,'  he  would  long 
ao-o  have  cast  me  off  in  anger.  But  he  still  con- 
tinues  to  bear  with  me,  and  to  give  me  '  line  upon 
line,  and  precept  upon  precept.'  And  I  am  certain, 
that  he  'will  never  leave  me,  nor  forsake  me;'  for, 
though  I  am  variable  and  inconstant, '  with  him  there 
is  no  variableness,  neither  shadow  of  turning.'  "^ 

1  Ps.  Ixxxv.  8;  Prov.  iv.  18. 

2  Test  of  Truth.  The  extracts  given  from  this  interesting  little 
work  will  be  sufficient  to  commend  it  to  the  reader's  attention,  as 
the  production  of  an  author  of  no  common  power,  and  deeply  im- 
bued with  the  .iclowing  principles  of  the  gospel.  It  will  remind  the 
reader  of  some  of  Mr.  Scott's  painful  exercises  of  mind  describtnl  in 
his  ''Force  of  Truth/'  and  of  the  argument  so  successfully  handled 
by  Bishop  Burnet  in  his  disputations  with  Lord  Rochester. 


MARY  JANE    GRAHAM.  29 

Miss  Graham  continued  to  reside  in  London  for 
some  time  after  her  deliverance  from  fhat  a^Yful 
dehision,  into  which  she  had  been  permitted  to  fall. 
The  remembrance,  however,  of  this  temporary  apos- 
tasy was  "  ever  before  her,"  ^  with  all  that  holy  shame 
and  self-abasement  which  attaches  to  the  "  purified" 
conscience  of  the  pardoned  sinner,^ — humbling  her 
in  the  dust,  while  yet  faith,  hope,  love,  peace,  and 
joy  were  the  dominant  principles  in  her  soul. 
Deeply  also  did  she  feel  the  constraint  of  the  com- 
mand given  by  anticipation  to  a  backsliding  apos- 
tle— "  Whe7i  thou  art  converted,  strengthen  thy  hreth- 
ren^^  It  was  the  great  object  of  her  "Test  of 
Truth"  to  set  forth  her  own  case  as  a  beacon  of 
warning,  an  example  of  encouragement,  and  a 
monument  of  Divine  grace,  for  the  special  use  of 
those  who  might  be  brought  into  the  same  seductive 
atmosphere  of  temptation.  There  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  her  work  in  its  original  form  produced 
its  measure  of  conviction  upon  her  principal  cor- 
respondent; and  we  may  confidently  expect,  that  in 
a  wider  circulation,  an  answer  to  her  prayers  for  a 
Divine  blessing  upon  it  will  be  abundantly  mani- 
fested. During  her  residence  in  London,  the  minis- 
try of  the  Rev.  Watts  Wilkinson,  and  a  deep  study 
of  the  sacred  volume,  were  the  ordained  means  of 
advancing  her  knowledge  and  experience  of  scrip- 
tural truth.  Her  intellectual  habits  were  a  source 
of  much  gratification  to  her,  and  mainly  contri- 
buted, under  the  blessing  of  God,  to  form  her  cha- 

1  Psalm  li.  3.  2  Ezek.  xvi.  63.  »  Luke  xxii.  32. 

3« 


30  MEMOIR   OF 

racter  into  a  mould  of  solid  and  jDermanent  useful- 
ness. It  is,  however,  delightful  to  observe  her  Chris- 
tian simplicity  and  watchfulness  to  subordinate 
these  valuable  enjoyments  to  the  primary  object 
of  the  glory  of  God.  Of  this  the  following  prayer, 
found  among  her  papers,  will  furnish  an  interesting 
and  edifying  illustration. 

"  Before  study  of  any  kind,  remember  that  it  is 
but  lost  labour,  except  the  Lord  bless  it. 

"Summary  of  Things  to  be  sought  of  God 
BEFORE  Study. 

"  I  desire  to  thank  thee,  my  God  and  Father  in 
Christ  Jesus,  for  this  and  every  other  opportunity 
of  improvement  thou  hast  given  me.  May  the 
opportunity  thou  hast  given. me  be  blest  of  thee! 
Enable  me  to  receive  it  with  thanksgiving,  and 
sanctify  it  to  me  by  the  word  of  God  and  prayer. 

0  let  me  know  nothing  but  Jesus  Christ  and  him 
crucified ;  and  other  things  just  so  far  as  may  be  for 
my  good  and  thy  glory,  and  no  further.  I  would 
mourn  before  thee  the  base  ingratitude,  with  which 

1  have  hitherto  abused  my  time  and  talents,  by 
loving  thy  gifts  more  than  thee,  and  seeking  myself, 
not  thee,  in  them.  Now  I  bring  all  my  things  to 
thee;  for  they  are  not  mine,  hut  thine  own.  Take 
that  acGursed  thing,  self,  out  of  them  all,  and  con- 
descend to  use  them  for  thy  glory.  I  thank  thee 
that  the  meanest  employment  is  acceptable  in  thy 
sight,  when  done  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
May  I  set  about   this,   in   his  name,   and  in  his 


MARY  JANE    GRAHAM.  81 

strength,  and  to  his  glory !  May  I  not  once  seek  my 
own  things  in  it,  but  the  things  that  are  Jesus  Christ's! 
Let  me  no  longer  lean  to  my  own  understanding ; 
but  may  I  so  acknowledge  thee  in  all  my  ways, 
that  thou  mayest  establish  my  thoughts,  andrdirect 
my  paths!  Suffer  me  not  to  be  wise  in  my  own 
conceit,  nor  vainly  puffed  up  in  my  fleshly  mind. 
Make  me  to  lean  from  mine  own  wisdom.  Be  thou 
my  wisdom. 

"Holy  Lord  God  the  Spirit!  who  dividest  unto 
every  man  severally  as  thou  wilt,  bless  such  of  my 
studies  and  in  such  a  degree  as  may  be  most  to  thy 
glory.  If  it  be  thy  will,  prepare  me  by  them  for 
the  work  to  which  I  desire  thou  wouldest  call  and 
separate  me.^  I  commit  this  work  to  which  I 
would  devote  myself,  into  thy  hands.  Prosper  it 
or  not  as  thou  seest  good.  Thy  will  be  done  re- 
specting it ;  only  take  all  self-seeking  out  of  it;  get 
thyself  glory,  Lord,  in  all  that  I  do ;  and  keep  me 
from  ever  wishing  to  rob  thee  of  thy  glory.  Lord, 
if  thou  wilt  bless  me  abundantly,  grant  that  in 
whatever  thou  givest  me,  I  may  remember  I  have 
received  it,  and  not  glory  as  if  I  had  not  received 
it.  I  set  myself  to  this  employment  in  the  name 
of  Jesus :  may  I  have  fellowship  with  him  in  it  I 
Let  it  not  become  a  snare  to  me;  but  may  the 
Lord,  who  is  my  confidence,  preserve  my  foot  from 

1  This  was  a  plan  which  lay  very  near  her  heart,  for  the  gra- 
tuitous instruction  of  the  children  of  missionaries,  and  of  Chris- 
tians in  reduced  circumstances,  with  a  view  to  qualify  them  for 
the  situation  of  teachers. 


32  MEMOIR   OF 

being  taken  in  this  net,  which  has  so  often  entan- 
gled me! 

"  O  thou  Glorifier  of  Jesus !  take  of  the  things 
that  are  his,  and  show  them  unto  me,  and  unto  all 
thy  people,  with  such  light  and  power,  that  our 
wills,  desires,  and  affections  may  be  quite  swal- 
lowed up  in  his  love.  Let  us  have  no  will  but 
thy  most  holy  will.  Convince  us  that  all  things 
else  are  mere  dross  and  dung,  in  comparison  with 
that  most  excellent  knowledge  of  our  dear  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  which  do  thou  give  us 
every  day  more  abundantly,  making  us  to  know  the 
love  of  Christ  which  passeth  knowledge.  Even  so, 
Holy  Spirit,  for  the  sake  of  thy  great  mercies  in 
Christ  Jesus,  to  whom,  with  thee  and  the  Father,  be 
all  the  honour,  all  the  praise,  and  all  the  glory,  now 
and  forever.     Amen." 

The  period  of  her  illness  embraces  a  large  por- 
tion of  what  in  her  case,  as  her  father  observes, 
"  might  be  not  untruly  called  '  that  long  disease, — 
her  life.'  "  From  her  childhood,  her  health  was 
very  delicate;  and  the  long  illness  which  occa- 
sioned her  leaving  school  left  a  debility  in  her  con- 
stitution, from  which  she  suffered  more  or  less  to 
the  end  of  life.  Violent  pains  in  her  head,  chest, 
and  side  appeared,  however,  to  be  the  commence- 
ment of  that  disease  which  gradually  developed  a 
fatal  character.  For  some  years  she  was  indeed 
able  to  exert  herself  (too  often  much  beyond  her 
strength),  both  in  bodily  and  mental  activity.    She 


MARY   JANE    GKAIIAM.  33 

continued  her  intellectual  studies  with  her  usual 
vigour,  till  about  a  year  after  her  settlement  iu 
Devon,  when  increasing  illness  constrained  her  to 
send  her  young  pupil  to  school,  and  she  was  never 
afterwards  enabled,  though  she  much  wished  it,  to 
resume  the  care  of  her  education.  From  that  time 
she  became  a  decide<l  invalid,  and,  except  in  the 
year  1827  (when  she  changed  the  scene  for  the 
benefit  of  her  health),  she  never  moved  beyond  the 
gai'den,  and  only  two  or  three  times  ventured  into 
the  outward  air.^  For  the  last  two  years  she  was 
entirely  confined  to  her  room,  and  unable  to  be 
dressed.  During  the  whole  of  this  period,  her 
anxious  mother  slept  iu  her  chamber,  watching 
over  her  Avith  the  most  unremitting  tenderness. 
She  generally  kept  her  bed,  till  within  the  last 
seven  or  eight  months;  when  a  violent  cough  and 
spasms  in  the  heart  prevented  a  reclining  position, 
exce2)t  when  she  was  compelled  to  return  to  it  by 
fainting  and  exhaustion.  The  only  resource  was  a 
chair  well  supported  with  pillows,  in  which  she  sat 
up  day  and  night,  and  from  which  the  assistance 
of  three  j^ersous  was  required  to  remove  her  during 

^  Of  one  of  these  times  the  following  memorandum  occurs  in 
a  letter  to  her  cousin: — "To-day,  I  know  not  how,  all  my  illness 
seems  to  have  disappeared,  and  I  feel  much  better,  so  that  I 
have  been  out  in  the  garden  the  second  time  since  you  left  me. 
Ah!  how  delightful  the  weather  was!  what  pleasure  I  felt  in 
breathing  the  fresh  air,  in  seeing  the  trees  which  begin  to  bud, 
the  spring-Iiowers  which  are  appearing,  and  in  hearing  the  song 
of  the  birds,  who  seem  to  rejoice  no  less  than  myself  in  this 
new  season  I" 


34  MEMOIR   OF 

the  last  few  weeks  of  her  life.  She  appeared,  how- 
ever, to  suffer  less  from  debility  than  many  inva- 
lids. For  though  she  was  wholly  unable  to  stand, 
yet  a  change  .of  medical  regimen  appeared  to  give 
her  temporary  relief  from  distressing  helplessness. 

In  this  state  of  wearisome  languor  and  pain,  her 
mind,  however,  was  always  vigorous  and  full  of 
energy.  She  never  seemed  to  know  an  idle  moment. 
During  the  whole  period  of  confinement  to  her  bed, 
she  was  always  surrounded  with  books,  or  other 
objects  that  engaged  her  attention.  It  was  her 
habit  to  have  her  table  placed  by  her  bedside 
every  night  Avith  her  books  and  writing  materials, 
that  she  might  commence  her  operations  with  the 
earliest  dawn  of  light.  Her  beloved  Bible  w^as 
always  under  her  pillow,  the  first  thing  in  her  hand 
in  the  morning,  and  the  last  at  night.  Subordinate 
to  this  object  of  supreme  interest,  her  diligence  and 
perseverance  in  study  were  most  remarkable.  When 
reminded  that  such  intense  application  must  be 
injurious  to  her  health,  she  always  replied,  that  she 
considered  these  diversified  sources  of  interest  as 
among  her  greatest  temporal  blessings,  in  diverting 
her  mind  and  attention  from  her  bodily  ailments. 
Her  studies  in  the  sick-room  were  as  varied  as  in 
the  time  of  health.  Sometimes  the  languages  were 
taken  up.  At  other  times  the  more  engrossing 
study  of  mathematics  fixed  her  mind.  This  in  its 
turn  was  exchanged  for  chemistry  or  botany.  Oc- 
casionally, wlien  her  mind  was  less  equal  to  exer- 
tion, she  would  amuse  herself  with  lighter  employ- 


MAPwY   JANE    GKAIIAM.  35 

ments.  In  the  spring  of  her  last  year,  she  at- 
tempted to  dry  flowers,  which  her  parents  procured 
for  her,  with  the  intention  of  forming  an  herbarium. 
But  increasing  indisposition  frustrated  this  phin. 
Cutting  out  pajDcr  was  also  a  favourite  amusement, 
in  which  she  early  excelled.  Her  skilful  use  of  the 
scissors  had  attracted  in  her  young  days  the  ad- 
miration and  interest  of  her  school-fellows.  She 
was  also  a  beautiful  netter,  and  sent  a  number  of 
purses  to  her  Spanish  correspondent,  which,  when 
sold  at  a  bazaar  for  his  private  benefit,  produced 
upwards  of  three  pounds.  Thus  in  these  various 
employments  did  her  mind  maintain  its  ceaseless 
activity,  both  in  intellectual  indulgence  and  in  all 
the  exercises  of  practical  devotedness.  No  oppor- 
tunity of  usefulness  appeared  to  be  forgotten.  When 
detained  from  the  house  of  God  by  her  protracted 
indisposition,  her  time  and  interest  were  employed 
in  explaining  the  Scriptures  to  the  servant  who  w^as 
necessarily  occupied  in  attendance  upon  her;  and, 
in  one  instance,  it  ^vas  hoped,  as  well  as  in  a  former 
case  of  much  earlier  date,  that  her  simple  and  spirit- 
ual instructions  in  the  household  were  applied  Avith 
Divine  unction  and  sovereign  grace  to  the  heart. 

As,  however,  her  illness  evidently  approached  its 
termination,  her  employments  assumed  a  character 
more  exclusively  spiritual.  She  was  occupied  in 
girding  up  her  loins,  and  trimming  her  lamp,  in 
constant  and  delighted  expectation  of  her  Lord's 
immediate  coming.^ 

>  T-pko  xii.  :^,'>.  nn. 


36  MEMOIR   OF 

And  now  it  was  that  the  Christian  graces,  which 
had  been  matured  in  the  school  of  afBiction  and 
under  the  influence  of  habitual  communion  with 
her  God,  displayed  more  manifestly  their  holiness, 
beauty,  and  consolation.  This  was  (as  an  excellent 
clergyman,  before  adverted  to,  wrote  to  her  father) 
"  the  fiery  chariot,  her  vehicle  to  heaven,  in  which — 
the  more  it  shook  her  mortal  frame,  until  it  left  it 
all  behind — the  stronger  and  more  full  of  faith  and 
triumph  in  Christ  Jesus  she  grew  in  her  immortal 
spii'it." 

A  detailed  account  of-  this  last  period  of  her 
mortal  career  will,  it  is  presumed,  be  found  gene- 
rally interesting.  In  these  solemn  seasons  is  every 
feature  more  accurately  defined;  while  the  colour- 
ing is  heightened  by  the  impressive  manifestation  of 
the  love  and  faithfulness  of  our  God  and  Saviour. 

To  the  last,  her  habits  of  active  employment  were 
predomina7it.  Her  thoughts  and  time  were  much 
occupied  in  preparing  her  two  small,  but  valuable, 
works  for  publication ;  and  she  continued  to  correct 
the  proof-sheets  of  them  as  they  were  sent  to  her, 
till  within  a  few  days  of  her  death.  At  first  her 
mind  was  divided  between  the  completion  of  her 
projected  Series  of  Letters  to  a  Governess  and  tlie 
work  On  the  Freeness  of  Divine  Grace.  But 
mature  deliberation  decided  her  in  favour  of  the 
latter,  as  being  calculated  for  more  extensive  use- 
Yulness.  She  was  indefatigable  also  in  her  cor- 
respondence with  her  friends,  upon  the  principle 
of  duty,  in  using  every  opi~)ortunity  of  setting  forth 


MARY   JANE    GRAHAM.  37 

the  grand  and  inviting  subject  of  tlie  gospel  to  her 
fellow-sinners:  She  continued  to  write  even  after 
she  was  unable  to  use  her  pen,  and  when,  having 
had  just  power  to  direct  a  pencil,  her  wrist  had  been 
bound  up  to  give  her  a  little  strength. 

She  ivas  usually  favoured,  tlirougliout  the  last  months 
of  her  life,  with  a  remarkable  sense  of  the  Divine 
presence.  During  times  of  extreme  agony,  "Christ," 
she  said,  "  is  with  me,  '  touched  with  the  feeling  of 
mine  infirmities.'  "  ^  Her  intercourse  with  God  at 
this  solemn  season,  while  it  was  most  intimate,  was 
yet  most  hallowed.  One  evening,  after  a  day  of  great 
bodily  suffering,  her  cousin  went  into  her  chamber 
to  take  leave  of  her  for  the  night.  The  room  was 
darkened,  and  perfectly  quiet,  and  the  state  of  her 
soul  seemed  to  accord  with  the  outer  tranquillity. 
She  said,  "  I  can  scarcely  speak  to  you.  The  sense 
I  have  of  the  presence  of  God  is  so  powerful  that  it 
almost  overcomes  me.  He  has  often  manifested 
himself  to  me ;  but  never  in  such  a  manner  as  this 
night.  Indeed,  I  feel  ready  to  exclaim,  with  Job, 
*  I  have  heard  of  thee  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear ; 
but  now  mine  eye  seeth  thee.'  "  ^  She  said  very 
little  more,  being  evidently  too  deeply  impressed  to 
converse;  but — her  cousin  adds — "I  shall  never 
forget  that  night." 

Yet  this  sacredness  of  feeling  was  mingled  with 
cheerful  delight.  It  was  truly  Hooker's  "  reverend 
gayety."^     "Oh!" — said  she,  one  day,  to  a  friend — 

1  lleb.  iv.  15.        2  Job  ^m  ^         3  gee  Isaac  Walton's  Life. 
4 


88  MEMOIR   OF 

"He  gives  me  to  speak  to  liim  'face  to  face;'  and 
sometimes,  when  I  am  so  weak  that  I  cannot  utter 
words,  his  *  Spirit  helpeth  my  infirmities,  and  maketh 
intercession  for  me  with  groanings  that  cannot  be 
uttered.'^  I  love  to  feel  my  weakness,  that  I  may 
experience  '  his  strength  made  perfect  in  weakness.'  ^ 
I  delight  to  lie  low  before  Mm" 

She  loved  to  speak  of  the  character  of  God.  Her 
mind  appeared  to  be  much  expanded  in  the  con- 
templation of  his  unsearchable  nature  and  glorious 
perfections.  "  How  delightful" — she  observed  on 
one  occasion — "  to  think,  that  '  God  is  light,  and  in 
him  is  no  darkness  at  all.'^  All  his  dispensations 
are  light;  and  though  now  they  seem  dark  to  us, 
hereafter  all  clouds  will  be  dispelled."* 

Her  desires  for  a  clear  and  full  hioivledge  of  God 
were  most  intense.  "What" — she  exclaimed  one 
day — "  are  ten  thousand  worlds  compared  with  one 
ray  of  the  knowledge  of  God !"  The  ardour  of  her 
soul,  unsatisfied  with  former  manifestations,  was 
continually  stretched  out  for  higher  and  deeper 
views  of  the  Divine  glory.  She  was  not  afraid  to 
oflfer  that  prayer,  which  seems  scarcely  befitting  an 
archangel's  lips,  and  which  only  the  clear  warrant 
of  the  gospel  preserves  from  the  starnp  of  pre- 
sumption: — "I  beseech  thee,  show  me  thy  glory." ^ 
Often  did  she  entreat  her  minister  to  pray  that 
more  might  be  revealed  to  her  in  this  world.  Nor 
was  the   petition   unheard.      For,  in   reply  to  her 

1  Rom.  viii.  26.  2  2  Cor.  xii.  9.  ^  i  John  i.  5. 

*  See  John  iii.  7 :  1  Cor.  xiii.  12.  ^  Exodus  xxxiii.  18. 


MARY  JAXE    GRAHAM.  39 

dear  mother's  question   a   day  or  two   before   her 
death,  her  answer  was,  "I  could  not  feel  happier." 

The  concentration  of  all  her  thoughts  ujjon  eternity 
iims  peculiarly  striking  and  edifying  to  those  around 
her.  This  main  concern  for  the  last  few  months  of 
her  life  absorbed  her  entire  interest.  Nothing  un- 
connected with  it  seemed  to  possess  any  claim  upon 
her  attention.  The  engrossing  delights  of  intel- 
lectual study  were  relinquished  forever.  She  had 
no  enjoyment  of  any  train  of  conversation,  except 
that  which  directly  led  her  mind  and  contemplation 
heavenward.  Communion  with  God  was  the  one 
object  of  her  desire.  The  word  of  God  now  occu- 
pied her  whole  attention.  All  other  books — even 
her  favourite  authors,  Romaine,  Leighton,  Milner 
— seemed  comparatively  uninteresting.  This  hea- 
venly absorption  of  mi^id  is  finely  depicted  in  the 
following  short  extract  from  one  of  her  late  letters 
to  a  friend  : — 

Stolce-Fleminrj,  Oct.  1,  1830. 

"My  dear  : 

"  Knowing  that  my  life  hangs  upon  a  thread,  I 
dare  not  delay  answering  your  letter:  I  pray  God 
to  enable  me  to  speak  the  truth  to  you  in  love,  and 
to  dispose  you  not  to  think  me  'your  enemy,  because 
I  tell  you  the  truth.'  But  I  must,  as  long  as  I  con- 
tinue to  live,  continue  to  urge  you  on  the  subject 
of  religion.  I  speak  not  now  willingly  on  any  other 
subject;  I  desire  to  have  no  more  to  do  with  earthly 
things,  but  to  turn  my  whole  joyful  expectation  to 
that  blessed  Saviour  whom  I  believe  I  shall  soon 


40  MEMOUi    OF 

see  face  to  face,  through  that  inlinite,  undeserved 
love  and  kindness  of  his,  Avhich  has  taught  me  to 
put  my  whole  trust  in  him  for  salvation." 

Connected  with  this  feature,  we  may  add,  that 
she  seemed  so  perfectly  iveaned  from  the  world  as 
scarcely -to  have  an  earthly  wish.  Several  times  she 
took  leave  of  her  beloved  relatives.  In  parting 
with  her  young  cousin  about  three  months  before 
her  death,  she  writes,  "  I  have  not  one  earthly  care 
or  wish ;  for  even  my  cares  for  her  are  now  all  cast 
upon  God,  whose  tender  love  will,  I  trust,  lead  her 
all  her  life  long,  as  it  has  led  me.  She  is  going 
one  way,  and  I  shall  soon  depart  in  another  way; 
but  I  would  wait  patiently."  One  day,  earnestly 
recommending  a  friend  to  "  cast  all  her  care  upon 
God,"  she  gave  the  same  expression  of  her  mind, 
"J  have  no  earthly  cares — nq  earthly  wish.  But" — 
added  she — "  I  have  spiritual  cares — spiritual  wants ; 
but  I  cast  even  them  all  upon  God."  Christ  and 
eternity  filled  up  the  Avhole  vacuum,  and  left  nothing 
else  to  be  desired. 

Resignation  to  the  tvill  of  God  was  prominently 
marked  during  her  illness,  and  was  to  her  the  source 
of  much  heavenly  enjoym'ent.  After  meditating 
upon  her  Saviour's  words,  "  My  meat  is  to  do  the 
will  of  him  that  sent  me,"  *  she  observed,  "  Though 
I  cannot  notu  do  the  ivill  of  my  heavenly  Father,  I 
can  suffer  his  will."  She  looked  forward  with  great 
calmness  to  a  protracted  life  of  suffering,  when  the 
medical  attendant  gave  his  judgment  that  she 
1  John  iv.  34. 


MARY  JANE   GRAHAM.  41 

miglit  probably  live  for  many  years,  but  Avoiild 
never  regain  her  health.  As  she  was  naturally  of 
an  energetic  dis230sition,  ardent  in  forming  and  exe- 
cuting her  plans,  this  state  of  acquiescence  to  so 
inactive  a  life  appeared  manifestly  to  be  the  effect 
of  Divine  grace.  Once,  indeed,  she  remarked,  with 
tears,  that  the  prospect  of  lying  on  that  bed  for  many 
years,  of  seeing  her  friends  die  around  her,  and 
those  whom  she  loved  remove  away  (alluding  to  the 
anticipated  removal  of  the  rector's  family,  which, 
however,  she  did  not  live  to  see),  was  a  melancholy 
thought.  But  the  passing  cloud  was  soon  dissipated, 
and  she  regained  her  usual  cheerfulness. 

The  same  warm  temper  of  love  to  the  Lord's  people 
that  had  distinguished  her  general i^rofession  ivasruliiig 
to  the  last.  Even  in  her  state  of  distressing  weakness, 
she  could  not  be  satisfied  without  seeing  some  of  them 
round  her  bed,  that  she  might  enjoy  sensible  com- 
munion with  them.  However  weak  they  might  be 
in  faith,  or  low  in  condition,  her  heart  was  fervently 
drawn  out  in  union  with  them.  In  referring  to  some 
refreshing  intercourse  with  two  eminent  Christians, 
she  observed,  "How  good  my  gracious  God  is  in  thus 
sending  his  saints  to  commune  with  me  upon  those 
deep  and  precious  things  which  now  form  my  only 
consolation,  my 'joy,  and  the  rejoicing  of  my  heart'! 
But,"  added  she — acknowledging  the  supremacy  of 
her  heavenly  Friend,  "  after  all,  his  presence  is  the 
only  unfailing  source  of  happiness.  '  With  him  is  the 
fountain  of  life;  in  his  light  shall  we  see  light.'  "^ 

*  Psalm  xxxvi.  9. 

4* 


42  MEMOIR  OF 

Her  views  of  sin  were  deep.  Her  friend,  observing 
her  one  morning  to  look  unusually  disturbed,  ven- 
tured to  express  her  concern ;  when  she  remarked, 
with  a  look  that  could  not  be  forgotten,  "It  is  sin 
that  hath  made  me  so.  I  have  passed  such  a  night  T 
The  deep  solemnity  of  her  manner  precluded  any 
further  inquiry.  Yet  it  was  afterwards  discovered 
that  it  was  not  her  own  sin,  but  that  of  a  dear 
friend  that  had  so  acutely  pierced  her.  Of  herself 
she  observed,  on  another  occasion,  "Ever  since  I 
have  known  my  sins  to  be  pardoned,  they  have  cost 
me  a  thousand  times  more  distress  than  before."  So 
awfully  does  the  love  of  God,  in  pardoning,  brighten 
their  guilt. 

The  expressions  of  her  deep  humility  were  pecu- 
liarly stpking  during  her  illness.  All  her  attain^ 
ments  in  the  Christian  life  were  never  thought  of, 
but  as  dross  and  dung.  Her  sense  of  unprofitable- 
ness kept  her  low  in  the  dust,  while  the  recollections 
of  faith,  exercised  in  habitual  application  to  the 
blood  of  her  Redeemer,  upheld  her  from  despond- 
ency. When  her  minister  ventured  to  express  the 
advantage  which  his  own  soul  had  derived  from 
attendance  upon  her,  she  exclaimed,  with  vehemence, 
"  How  should  such  a  dead  dog^  as  I  am  be  of  any 
use?"  She  sometimes  seemed  as  if  she  could  scarcely 
conceive  the  possibility  of  being  the  Lord's  instru- 
ment for  the  good  of  his  people,  while  at  the  same 
time  she  continued  to  employ  her  every  power  of 
body  and  mind  in  their  service. 

1  2  Sam.  xvi.  9. 


MARY  JANE    GRAHAM.  43 

This  self-abasing  apprehension  ivas,  however,  com- 
bined with  ardent  gratitude  to  God  as  the  author, 
and  to  her  friends  as  the  channel,  of  all  her  mercies. 
Every  attention,  every  act  of  kindness  from  her 
parents  and  nurses,  excited  the  most  lively  emo- 
tions of  thankfulness.  Speaking,  one  day,  of  the 
kindness  of  her  nurse,  her  minister  observed,  "  But 
oh,  how  kind,  how  much  kinder,  is  Christ/"  "Yes," 
she  replied,  "  but  even  all  this  kindness  of  the  crea- 
ture flows  to  me  through  his  love,  his  kindness."  Thus 
did  all  her  earthly  comforts  receive  a  double  relish ; 
thus  also  were  her  bitterest  trials  sweetened  by  being 
traced  up  to  their  Divine  source,  and  by  flowing  into 
her  soul  through  the  delightful  channel  of  the  media- 
tion of  her  Saviour. 

The  same  food  that  had  nourished  her  throughout 
her  journey  continued  to  supply  strength  and  vigour 
for  the  last  efforts.  Her  Bible  was  more  invaluable 
than  ever  to  her.  It  was  her  constant  practice, 
before  she  went  to  rest,  to  repeat  a  text  to  her  be- 
loved mother,  and  to  require  one  in  return,  assign- 
ing as  a  reason  that  she  might  have  them  to  think 
upon  after  she  was  gone.^  She  pursued  the  same 
habit  of  scriptural  repetition  with  her  afiectionate 
cousin, — the  constant  attendant  upon  the  last  months 

^  A  few  months  before  her  death,  she  presented  her  little  Bible 
to  her  mother,  having  obtained  from  her  the  assurance  that  she 
would  read  a  chapter  every  day  with  prayer.  In  order  to  keep 
this  promise  in  mind,  if  the  precious  treasure  was  at  any  time 
out  of  reach,  she  would  playfully  ask  for  it:  "You  know,  dearest 
mother,  it  is  not  mine  now;  but  do  you  lend  it  to  me  while  I  am 
here." 


44  MEMOIR  OF 

of  her  illness, — adding  to  it  the  privilege  of  social 
prayer,  except  when  attacks  of  illness  prevented  it. 
"Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive,  that  your  joy  may  be 
full,"^  was  her  favourite  text  to  the  last. 

As  in  health,  so  especially  in  her  last  sickness, 
she  had  great  delight  in  communion  with  the  Holy 
Spirit.  She  used  to  address  her  prayers  much  to 
him,  thought  much  of  his  personality,  and  found 
the  contemplation  of  it  most  refreshing  to  her  soul. 
She  would  often  speak  wdth  comfort  of  her  experience 
of  his  distinct  influence  upon  her  heart. 

Hymns  were  also  a  source  of  much  refreshment 
to  her  soul.  She  used  to  repeat  many  to  herself, 
especially  during  the  night,  and  was  thankful  to  the 
last  to  have  them  repeated  to  her.  The  last  that 
her  cousin  read  tcf  her,  two  days  before  her  death, 
was  one  by  Madame  de  Fleury,  beginning — 

"Ye  angels,  who  stand  round  the  throne,"  &c. 

and  Gambold's  beautiful  hymn, 

"That  I  am  thine,  my  Lord  and  God,"  &g., 

was  a  great  favourite.  Cowper  and  Toplady,  also, 
were  a  source  of  great  delight  to  her. 

The  siqyport  ivhich  ivas  vouchsafed  to  her  in  the 
micht  of  her  intense  bodily  sufferings  was  such  as 
might  have  been  expected  from  the  known  and 
tried  faithfulness  of  her  God.  Such  was  her  enjoy- 
ment, at  some  seasons  of  agony,  that  her  "  pains," 

1  John  xvi.  24. 


MARY   JANE    GRAHAM.  45 

as  she  said  on  one  occasion,  "were  sweeter  than 
honey  or  the  honeycomb."  At  one  of  her  times 
of  distress  she  remarked,  "  I  am  a  child  lying  in 
the  arms  of  Christ,  and  he  treats  me  with  more 
than  a  mother's  tenderness."  Truly  indeed  was 
she  "  strengthened  with  all  might,  according  to  the 
glorious  power  of  God,  unto  all  patience  and  long- 
suffering  'with  joyfidness.''  ^ 

It  is  almost  needless  to  add,  as  the  concluding 
article  of  detail,  that  the  sting  of  death  luas  removed 
from  her. 

"  It  is  not  death  to  me,"  she  would  say.  "  Jesus 
hath  tasted  death  for  me,  and  hath  drunk  up  all  its 
bitterness."  The  prospect  of  eternity  w^as  entirely 
divested  of  its  terrors,  and  beamed  with  the  bright 
anticipation  of  everlasting  joy. 

She  would  sometimes  speak  of  herself  as  a  dis- 
embodied spirit,  as  if  she  realized,  in  the  fullest  per- 
ception and  assurance,  her  entrance  into  the  world 
of  blessedness.  Her  frequent  reference  to  her  de- 
parture was  in  calm  composure, — like  making  pre- 
paration! for  a  short  journey  or  a  temporary  ab- 
sence. At  other  times  it  was  in  joyful  hope.  On 
one  occasion, — six  months  before  her  death, — when 
she  was  thought  to  be  dying,  she  unexpectedly  re- 
vived, and,  seeing  her  weeping  friends  around  her, 
asked  her  dear  mother  why  they  w^ere  all  in  tears, 
adding,  with  great  animation,  "  Do  you  think  that  I 
shall  be  with  Jesus  to-morrow?"  At  another  of 
these   times   she   exclaimed,  "  If  the  Lord  should 

1    C<;].   i.   II. 


46  MEMOIR    OF 

come  and  take  me  this  night!  but,  oh!  that  is  too 
much  to  hope  for."  After  a  violent  attack  of  cough- 
ing and  spasm,  a  friend  observed,  "  I  fear  you  suffer 
much."  "Oh,  no!"  she  replied;  "I  delight  to  feel 
the  pins  of  the  tabernacle  taking  out."  She  burst 
into  tears  when  a  physician,  who  occasionally  saw 
her,  informed  her  that  the  disease  had  not  made 
the  progress  which  he  had  supposed.  This,  how- 
ever, was  but  a  momentary  feeling.  For,  upon  her 
mother's  reminding  her  that  she  was  only  not  quite 
so  near  home  as  she  had  expected,  she  replied, "  Oh, 
no !  this  is  wrong,"  dried  up  her  tears,  and  returned 
to  her  usual  serenity  and  cheerfulness.  Writing  to 
one  of  her  friends,  in  reference  to  a  beloved  saint 
who  had  died  in  the  triumph  of  the  gospel,  she  re- 
marked, "Well,  I  shall  have  one  friend  more  to 
welcome  me  when  the  Lord's  time  shall  come  to 
'  administer'  to  me  also  *  an  entrance  into  his  ever- 
lasting kingdom.'  Oh,  blessed  hope!  happy  sinnera 
saved  by  the  blood  of  Jesus."  Then  she  adds  this 
affectionate  exhortation,  "  Oh,  my  dear,  my  beloved 
friend,  I  charge  you  so  to  devote  yourself  to  the 
Lord  that  '  the  full  assurance  of  hope'  may  cheer 
you  now,  and  at  the  hour  of  death."  Upon  re- 
ceiving the  intelligence  of  the  sudden  death  of  an- 
other Christian  friend,  she  exclaimed,  "I  have  heard 
the  good  news.  She  has  rent  the  veil  at  once. 
Mine  is  taking  down  piece  by  piece.  By-and-by 
I  shall  find  a  chink  large  enough  to  get  out  of;  like 
a  bird  confined  in  a  cage,  and  fluttering  about  to 
extricate  itself  in  vain,  till   at  last,  the  door  beino; 


MARY    JANE   GRAHAM.  47 

open,  the  liappy  prisoner  wings  its  flight  towards 
heaven."  There  might  probably  be  an  occasional 
mixture  of  infirmity  in  these  intense  desifes  for  her 
home.  It  is,  indeed,  the  dictate  "of  Christian  wisdom 
to  prefer  the  gain  of  death.  But  it  is  equally  the 
part  of  Christian  obedience  to  embrace  the  service 
of  life;  and  the  desire  to  depart,  so  far  as  it  is  not 
subjugated  to  the  readiness  to  wait,  partakes  of  the 
nature  of  self-will  more  than  of  holy  afi'ections. 
Generally,  however,  the  ardency  of  her  desires  ap- 
peared to  be  subdued  to  a  resignation  to  the  Divine 
will.  Thus,  in  reference  to  her  dissolution,  she 
writes  to  the  aged  minister  avIio,  during  lier  resi- 
dence in  London,  had  been  the  means  of  communi- 
cating established  peace  to  her  soul,  "  Blessed  be 
my  all-sufficient  Saviour,  that,  accepted  in  him,  a 
few  months  more  or  less  can  make  no  great  dif- 
ference: 'Neither  life  nor  death  can  separate  us 
from  his  love.'  "^  On  one  occasion,  after  expressing 
her  earnest  longing  to  depart,  she  checked  herself, 
and  added,  ''But  I  am  willing  to  sit  here  a  hundred 
or  a  thousand  years,  if  it  be  the  ivill  of  God." 

Her  mind  maintained  its  vigorous  character  in 
the  midst  of  her  protracted  sufferings.  The  subjects 
of  her  conversation  were  usually  of  a  highly  in- 
teresting character.  She  would  often  speak  with 
considerable  clearness,  combined  with  deep  humility, 
X)f  the  more  mysterious  parts  of  revelation,  such  as 
the  distinct  Persons  of  the  Holy  Trinity ;  the  person 
and  glory  of  Christ;    the  ministry  of  angels;    the 

^   I'nin.'ins  viii.  38.  ?>'.t. 


48  MEMOIR    OF 

state  of  separate  spirits ;  the  prospects  of  the  church 
of  Christ.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  no  par- 
ticular details  of  these  conversations  are  preserved. 
The  resurrection  and  future  glory  of  the  body  were 
favourite  subjects  with  her.  She  delighted  to  dwell 
upon  1  Cor.  xv.  "  What  a  wonderful  change" — she 
observed  on  one  occasion — "  takes  place  in  nature 
in  the  acorn, — which  from  so  small  and  insignificant 
a  seed  afterwards  expands  and  grows  into  a  noble 
tree,  the  glory  of  the  forest!  What  a  remarkable 
transformation  also  is  that  of  the  caterpillar, — which, 
after  having  been  changed  into  apparently  dead 
matter,  at  the  appointed  time  bursts  its  shell  and 
becomes  a  beautiful  winged  insect!  Had  we  not 
witnessed  such  changes,  we  should  not  have  believed 
them  possible.  But,  having  seen  them  in  nature, 
shall  we  doubt  the  possibility  of  that  great  change 
which  will  take  place  at  the  resurrection-day,  when 
'this  vile  body  shall  be  fashioned  like  unto  the 
glorious  body'  of  our  Lord?"^ 

For  a  short  time,  however,  before  her  death,  the 
enemy  w^as  permitted  to  harass  her  soul,  and  her 
lively  apprehensions  of  the  gospel  were  occasionally 
obscured.  At  one  of  these  times  she  said  to  her 
minister,  "  Christ  is  not  so  precious  to  me  as  he 
deserves."  "  No,"  it  was  replied ;  "  he  is  so  to 
none."  "But,"  she  added,  "he  'feeds  me  wdth  food 
convenient  for  me,'  though  I  do  not  experience 
those  spiritual  enjoyments  I  so  ardently  long  for." 
Of  a  distressing  season  of  temptation  which  hap- 

1  Phil.  iii.  21. 


MARY   JANE    GRAHAM.  49 

pened  about  this  time,  her  minister  writes,  "  I  shall 
never  forget  the  state  of  her  mind.  It  seemed 
as  if  '  a  horror  of  great  darkness  had  fallen  upon 
her.'^  *0h,'  she  said,  'I  cannot  pray;  I  can  only 
utter  words.  It  is  mere  wind.'  She  earnestly  called 
upon  me  to  strengthen  her,  by  repeating  the  pro- 
mises of  the  gospel.  God  at  that  time  seemed  to 
give  me  words.  For,  when  I  scarcely  knew  what  to 
say,  words  of  effectual  consolation  were  put  into  my 
mouth.  Once,  in  her  impatience  to  hear  the  word, 
she  exclaimed,  '  Oh,  say  something  to  me  from  God, 
whether  a  word  of  comfort  or  reproof.'  I  think  of 
that  proverb, '  The  full  soul  loatheth  the  honey-comb ; 
hut  to  the  hungry  soul  every  hitter  thing  is  sweet.'  ^  At 
these  times  of  '  needful  heaviness,  through  manifold 
temptations,'  while  '  walking  in  darkness,  and  having 
no  light,'  she  was,  however,  manifestly  enabled  to 
*  trust  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  to  stay  upon  her 
God.'^  She  could  not  enjoy  the  full  manifestation 
of  her  God,  which  she  had  known  in  times  past. 
*Yet  though' — she  said — *I  cannot  love  God  with 
that  warmth  which  I  so  earnestly  desire,  I  can  act 
faith  upon  him.'  She  complained  much  of  deadness 
in  prayer.  Yet  her  faith  was  in  exercise,  upholding 
her  soul  upon  the  sure  word  of  promise,  that  her 
Lord  would  return  to  her  in  his  own  best  time. 
She  would  at  such  se-asons  cheer  her  soul  by  repeat- 
ing suitable  promises.     '  When  the  poor  and  needy 


'  Genesis  xv.42.  2  Proverbs  xxvii.  7. 

3  1  Peter  i.  6,  with  Isaiah  1.  10. 
5 


50  MEMOIR   OF 

seek  for  water,  and  there  is  none,  and  tlieir  tongue 
faileth  them  for  thirst,  I  the  Lord  will  hear  them ; 
I  the  God  of  Jacob  will  not  forsake  them;'^  on  this 
encouraging  promise  she  rested  in  one  of  her  seasons 
of  distress  and  desertion.  At  another  time  she  would 
say,  'Rejoice  not  against  me,  O  mine  enemy:  when 
I  fall,  I  shall  arise;  when  I  sit  in  darkness,  the  Lord 
shall  be  a  light  unto  me.'^  And  again,  'The  Lord 
my  God  shall  enlighten  my  darkness.'^  At  these 
times  of  trial  the  book  of  Canticles  was  much  upon 
her  mind.  '  By  night  I  sought  my  beloved,  but  I 
found  him  not.'  Then  she  added,  '  but  I  sought  not 
in  vain.'  She  appeared  to  be  at  this  time  much  en- 
livened in  speaking  of  her  Saviour  as  represented 
under  the  figure  of  the  bridegroom.  '  He  loves  us 
to  such  a  degree,  that  he  seeks  after  us,  he  desires, 
he  delights  in  us, — all  which  is  to  be  seen  in  this 
wonderful  portion  of  Scripture.'  At  another  of  these 
times  she  remarked  that  often  in  the  experience  of 
the  Lord's  servants  a  season  of  darkness  had  pre- 
ceded some  special  manifestation  of  his  love.  Thus, 
as  she  observed,  'Jacob  wrestled  a  ivhole  night;  and 
it  was  not  until  the  daybreak  that  the  angel  revealed 
himself.'  *  Thus  for  a  while  our  Lord  seemed  to  dis- 
regard the  cry  of  the  Canaanitish  woman;  but  'the 
trial  of  her  faith  was'  eventually  'found  to  praise, 
and  honour,  and  glory.'  ^  Thus  also  the  disconsolate 
state  of  the  disciples  in  their  journey  to  Emmaus 

1  Isaiah  xli.  17.  ^  Mic'ah  vii.  9.  '  Psalm  xviii.  28. 

^  Canticles  iii.  1 ;  Genesis  xxxii.  24,  25.  • 

5  Matthew  xv.  22-28,  with  1  Peter  i.  7. 


MARY  JANE    GRAHAM.  51 

was  the  prelude  and  harbinger  of  a  blessed  display 
of  their  Master's  light  and  love."^ 

The  dark  clouds  which,  "  for  a  small  moment,"  ^ 
had  been  permitted  to  spread  themselves  over  her 
soul,  were,  however,  shortly  dispelled;  and  "at 
evening  time  it  was  light.'"  Her  extreme  weak- 
ness, indeed,  prevented  her  utterance ;  but  the  few 
words  that  could  be  gathered  from  her  were  descrip- 
tive of  the  peace  and  joy  that  reigned  within.  "My 
weakness" — she  said — "  reposes  on  his  strength ;  my 
folly,  on  his  wisdom."  When  her  minister,  in  allu- 
sion to  her  late  painful  exercises,  observed,  "God 
was  '  leading  her  by  the  right  way  to  the  city  of  habi- 
tation,' "  she  replied,  "  Oh,  yes ;  but  how  different  is 
the  case  of  those  who  *  wander  in  the  wilderness  in 
a  solitary  way,  and  find  7io  city  to  dwell  in!'  "*  In 
the  last  visit  of  this  beloved  attendant,  "  God" — she 
said  to  him — "  is  the  rock  of  my  salvation."  Then, 
speaking  of  her  being  detained  in  her  earthly  taber- 
nacle, she  added,  "  It  is  a  comfort  to  think  that 
'Christ  has  the  keys  of  death  and  of  hell.'^  All  is 
well.  May  God  be  with  you  during  the  remainder 
of  your  pilgrimage!  I  can  only  lie  as  an  infant  in 
the  hands  of  God." 

Her  bodily  sufferings,  at  the  last  period,  were 
most  severe,  arising  from  a  complication  of  diseases. 
Her  lungs,  which  had  been  supposed  to  be  sound, 
were  discovered  after  her  death  to  have  been  fatally 

1  Luke  xxiv.  17-34.  2  Isaiah  liv.  7. 

3  Zech.  xiv.  7\  *  Psalm  cvii.  7,  with  4. 

5  Rev.  i.  18. 


52  MEMOIR    OF 

diseased.  Her  heart,  also,  was  found  to  be  en- 
larged. Her  weakness  and  inability  to  recline  for 
so  many  weeks,  produced  dropsy  in  her  feet  and 
legs.  This  was,  however,  from  time  to  time  relieved 
by  incision.  Her  life  terminated  at  last  by  a  rapid 
mortification  in  one  of  her  legs.  The  last  day  of 
her  life  was  a  day  of  intense  agony.  She  was 
obliged  to  take  doses  of  opium,  which  before  she 
could  not  touch,  so  that  the  day  and  night,  till  she 
expired,  were  passed  in  a  doze,  or  in  the  most  vio- 
lent sufl^ering.  A  few  words  only  vv^ere  preserved  at 
this  affecting  crisis.  A  day  or  two  before  her  death, 
she  cried, " Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly ;  'never- 
theless, not  my  will,  but  thine  be  done.'  "  At  an- 
other time,  speaking  of  "  the  glory  that  shall  be  re- 
vealed," she  exclaimed,  "  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor 
ear  heard,' neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of 
man,  the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them 
that  love  him."^  Alluding  to  those  who  watched 
by  her  side,  she  said,  "  What  a  comfort  that  we  are 
not  watching  alone !  '  He  that  keepeth  Israel  shall 
neither  slumber  nor  sleep.'  "  ^  Then  again,  shortly 
after,  "I  know  whom  I  have  believed."^  Then 
again,  in  a  moment  of  excruciating  suffering,  to  her 
mother,  "  Pray  for  me,  that  my  patience  may  not 
fail  me  at  the  last."  The  last  words  she  was  heard 
to  utter  before  her  death,  in  a  moment  of  deep 
agony,  were,  "  I  am  come  into  deep  waters ;  O  God, 
my  rock,  '  hold  thou  me  up,  and  I  shall  be  safe.'  " 
The  next  morning,  on  Friday,  December  10,  1830, 
1  1  Cor.  ii.  9.  2  Psalm  cxxi.  4.  3  2  Tim.  i.  12. 


MARY  JANE   GRAHAM.  63 

■without  a  sigh  or  a  struggle,  she  entered  into  her 
eternal  rest. 

Thus  upheld  by  the  good  hope  of  the  gospel, — thus 
having  displayed  in  lovely  concord  the  diversified 
graces  of  the  Christian  profession, — thus  having 
been  abundantly  refreshed  by  the  consolations  of 
Christ, — this  blessed  sufferer,  this  ransomed  sinner, 
this  victorious  believer,  fell  asleep  in  the  arms  of 
her  Saviour  and  her  God.  She  heard,  and  gladly 
obeyed  the  call  of  her  Lord,  "  *  Come  up  hither.' 
Lay  down  the  cross,  and  take  the  crown." 

"  To  HIM  THAT  OVERCOMETH  WILL  I  GRANT  TO 
SIT  WITH  ME  IN  MY  THRONE,  EVEN  AS  I  ALSO 
OVERCAME,  AND  AM  SET  DOWN  W^ITH  MY  FATHER 
IN   HIS   THRONE."^ 

1  Kev.  iii.  21. 


5« 


THE  TEST  OF  TRUTH. 


THE  TEST  OF  TRUTH. 


PART  I. 


LUKE  xr.  9. 

ASK,  AND    IT    SHALL    BE    GIVEN   TOtT, 

I  AM  not  ignorant  of  the  disadvantage  under 
which  I  labour,  in  addressing  a  class  of  readers 
who  despise  the  Bible,  with  a  quotation  from  the 
Bible.  Such  a  commencement  carries  with  it  an 
air  both  of  unfairness  and  inconsistency.  It  looks 
like  an  attempt  to  assume  the  point  in  dispute,  and 
to  argue  from  a  source  which  we  have  not  yet 
proved  to  be  genuine.  Let  me  hasten  to  dispel  a 
suspicion  so  unfavourable  to  a  ^andid  reception  of 
the  observations  I  am  about  to  offer.  Rational  and 
philosophizing  skeptics,  in  presenting  you  with  the 
above  text  of  Scripture,  I  do  not  ask  you  to  receive 
it  as  the  word  of  God,  but  only  to  bestow  upon  it  a 
little  of  that  patient  and  courteous  attention  whicli 
the  word  of  one  of  your  fellow-men  might  claim 
from  you.  You  cannot,  in  justice  to  your  own  pro- 
fessions of  candour  and  equity,  refuse  compliance 
with  so  reasonable  a  demand. 


58  THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

Without  further  apology,  I  submit  one  of  fae 
sayings  of  Jesus  Christ  to  your  attentive  considera- 
tion. I  am  far  from  any  intention  of  pressing  you 
with  its  divine  authority,  or  insisting  on  a  blind 
obedience.     Upon  its  own  merits  let  it  stand  or  fall. 

My  object,  in  thus  briefly  addressing  you,  is  not 
to  convince,  but  to  direct  you  to  a  method  by  which 
you  may  convince  yourselves.  With  this  design  I 
shall  take  nothing  for  granted  but  what  you  will  be 
readily  disposed  to  concede.  I  will  suppose  that 
it  is  yet  a  matter  of  doubt  whether  the  Scriptures 
are  the  genuine  and  lively  oracles  of  God,  or  the 
sordid,  lying  invention  of  man.  Take,  if  you  please, 
a  still  further  advantage.  Assume  that  appearances 
are  strongly  against  their  divine  origin;  that  the 
external  evidences  of  Christianity  are  insuflicient, 
her  internal  proof  unsatisfactory,  her  professors  few 
and  inconsistent,  her  opponents  respectable  both 
in  number  and  talents,  the  objections  against  her 
weighty  and  plausible,  and  all  the  arguments  in 
her  favour  weak  and  inconclusive.  I  will  further 
suppose  that  you^^are  in  earnest  when  you  assert 
that  truth  alone  is  the  object  of  your  search,  and 
that  you  are  ready  to  embrace  her  wherever  you 
find  her.  I  say,  I  will  suppose  that  you  are  in 
earnest.  And  truly  I  should  offer  an  affront  to  your 
understandings,  both  as  men  and  philosophers,  were 
I  to  imagine  you  capable  of  viewing  the  subject  in 
any  other  than  a  serious  light. 

If,  then,  you  refuse  to  believe  the  Bible,  it  must 
be  because  you  can  find  no  means  of  proving  it  to 


THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH.  59 

be  true.  It  cannot  be  because  you  love  to  continue 
in  darkness,  in  perplexity,  in  unbelief.  Let  me  put 
the  case,  that  some  infallible  criterion  were  pro- 
posed to  you, — some  method  of  ascertaining,  by 
your  own  personal  experience,  the  truth  or  false- 
hood of  the  Bible.  May  it  not  be  inferred  that 
you  would  be  eager  to  put  it  fairly  to  the  test,  and 
willing  to  abide  by  the  result  of  your  experiment  ? 

Such  a  criterion  I  am  about  to  propose  to  you. 
It  is  so  simple,  that  a  child  may  comprehend;  so 
just,  that  a  philosopher  may  approve;  and  so  forci- 
ble, that  none  who  have  fairly  tried  have  ever  been 
found  able  to  withstand  it.  Such  is  the  saying  of 
Jesus  Christ  to  which  I  now  invite  your  attention, 
"Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you." 

Who  Jesus  Christ  was,  or  what  degree  of  deference 
is  due  to  his  word,  it  suits  not  my  present  purpose  to 
inquire.  I  shall  content  myself  with  proving  to  you 
that  the  saying  now  under  consideration  contains 
nothing  in  itself  absurd  or  improbable.  And,  having 
established  this  necessary  point,  I  shall  propose  it  to 
you  as  the  touchstone  of  truth.  'I  am  fully  aware 
of  the  proud  self-sufficiency  with  which  unconverted 
men  expect  the  mightiest  truths  to  be  brought  down 
to  the  level  of  human  reason.  It  shall,  therefore, 
be  my  care,  in  the  few  simple  propositions  which  I 
shall  lay  before  you,  to  introduce  nothing  which  can 
too  severely  tax  your  belief  or  your  understanding. 

You  are,  I  hope,  willing  to  allow  that  this  uni- 
versal frame  is  the  work  of  some  Divine  uncreated 
Intelligence.  You  are  not  yet  so  thoroughly  debased 


60  THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

in  heart  and  intellect,  as  to  be  able  to  look  round 
on  the  wonders  of  creation  without  perceiving  in 
them  all  manifest  tokens  of  creating  power.  But 
I  am  prei>ixred  to  make  every  allowance  for  the 
strength  of  your  incredulity  or  the  dulness  of  your 
comprehension.  If,  therefore,  I  appear  to  you  to 
liave  asked  too  much,  I  will  be  yet  more  moderate 
in  my  demands.  It  is  enough  for  my  argument  if 
you  admit  that  the  existence  of  God,  if  not  certain, 
is  at  least  probable,  or,  if  not  probable,  that  it  is  at 
least  possible.  The  various  instances  of  deep  design 
and  exquisite  contrivance  which  force  themselves 
upon  your  notice  on  every  side,  will  not  suffer  you 
to  deny  the  possible  existence  of  some  great  Designer 
and  Contriver.  Whether  you  look  upwards,  at  the 
innumerable  starry  host;  or  downwards,  upon  the 
insect  that  crawls  beneath  your  feet;  around  you, 
on  the  beauteous  furniture  of  the  universe ;  or  within, 
upon  the  little  world  of  thought  and  feeling  that  is 
stirring  in  your  own  bosom,  whichever  way  you 
look,  whichever  way  you  turn,  you  are  met  by 
something  which  compels  you  to  acknowledge  that 
the  existence  of  God  is  no  absurd  or  improbable 
hypothesis.  Even  that  man  who  wrote  "  atheist" 
under  his  name,  was  not,  I  am  persuaded,  an  atheist 
when  alone.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  an  atheist 
in  solitude.  You  may  boast  that  you  are  one  in 
the  convivial  circle;  but  you  cannot  support  the 
character  in  your  closet.  There  God  will  find  you 
out.  There  the  unwelcome  reality  of  his  presence 
will  confound  you.     And  not  only  so,  but  even  in 


THE    TEST    OF   TRUTH.  01 

the  height  of  social  mirth,  when  surrouiuled  })y 
friends  who  sympathize  and  admire,  you  dare  to 
make  merry  with  the  name  and  being  of  God, — 
even  then  a  secret  horror,  a  sad  foreboding  con- 
viction, will  sometimes  shiver  through  your  frame, 
and  you  will  feel  in  every  pore  that  GOD  IS,  and 
that  vain  are  your  puny  efforts  to  annihilate  him. 
I  appeal  to  the  stoutest  heart  among  you  whether  I 
speak  truth.  You  cannot  quite  divest  yourself  of 
the  conviction ;  you  know  you  cannot.  God  has  not 
left  himself  without  witness,  even  in  your  heart. 
There  is  a  point  at  which  incredulity  itself  must 
make  a  stand;  and  that  point  is,  the  existence  of 
God. 

I  take  it,  then,  for  granted  that  some  of  you  will 
admit  the  existence  of  Almighty  God  to  be  unde- 
niably certain:  many  will  own  that  it  is  probable: 
and  all  will  allow  that  it  is  possible. 

Neither  will  you  be  so  hardy  as  to  deny  that,  if 
there  be  a  God,  the  highest  happiness  of  his  crea- 
tures must  consist  in  knowing,  and  their  highest 
duty  in  loving,  him.  The  Maker  of  every  grand 
and  lovely  object  must  be  infinitely  grand  and 
lovely;  ana  if  to  know  his  works  be  good,  to  know 
himself  must  be  better  than  all.  But  if  he  be  our 
Maker, — if  in  him  ive  live,  and  i.iove,  and  have  our 
being,  then  surely  it  must  be  our  most  urgent  con- 
cern to  know  one  with  whom  we  have  so  much  to 
do.  If  he  be  our  Maker,  do  we  owe  him  no  service? 
If  our  Benefactor,  do  we  owe  him  no  thanks?  If  he 
be   our   Father,  must  we  not   love   him?      If  our 


62  "  THE   TEST    OF   TKUTH. 

Master,  must  we  not  fear  him?  But  how  can  we 
render  service  or  thanks,  love  or  praise,  to  an 
unknoion  being?  We  may,  indeed,  view  him  with 
a  servile  dread;  for  nature  itself  teaches  us  to 
shrink  from  that  which  we  do  not  know.  But  we 
cannot  serve  God  till  we  know  what  he  requires 
of  us.  "We  cannot  thank  him  till  we  know  what  he 
has  done  for  us.  We  cannot  love  God  till  we  are 
acquainted  with  his  thoughts  and  purposes  towards 
us.  Love,  such  as  deserves  the  name,  implies 
knowledge,  communion,  tried  excellence,  unlimited 
confidence.  Those  dark,  shadowy,  undefined  notions 
which  the  Deist  entertains  of  God,  may  cause  a 
slight  thrill  of  admiration,  a  transient  glow  of 
thankfulness,  to  pass  across  his  bosom;  but  they 
will  produce  no  real,  substantial,  enduring  senti- 
ment,— they  will  never  make  him  love.  To  know 
God  must  then  be  our  highest  happiness,  whether 
we  consider  his  intrinsic  excellence,  or  the  relation 
in  which  we  stand  to  him  as  his  creatures.  And  as 
the  Maker  cannot  but  be  infinitely  greater  than  any 
of  the  things  he  has  made,  so  the  knowledge  of  God 
cannot  but  be  infinitely  more  desirably  than  the 
knowledge  of  his  works. 

It  is  a  self-evident  proposition,  that  what  is  worth 
having  is  worth  seeking.  If,  then,  the  knowledge 
of  God  be  so  well  worth  having,  it  must  be  pro- 
portionably  worth  seeking.  No  pains  can  possibly 
be  too  great  to  bestow  on  the  attainment  of  such  an 
object.  I  am  not  now  speaking  of  the  existence  of 
God  as  undeniably  established.     I  affirm  that  the 


THE  TEST    OF  TRUTH.  63 

bare  possibility  that  a  Being  so  glorious  and  beauti- 
ful exists,  makes  it  worth  our  while  to  leave  the 
contemplation  of  every  other  glory  and  every  other 
beauty,  till  we  have  either  discovered  this  great 
original  of  all  that  is  beautiful  and  glorious,  or  can 
give  satisfactory  proof  that  no  such  original  exists. 
The  bare  possibility  that  there  is  a  Being  who 
stands  related  to  us  as  our  Creator  and  Father, 
renders  it  an  act  of  parricide,  if  I  may  so  express 
myself,  not  to  inquire  after  him,  that  we  may  fulfil 
the  duties  which  those  relations  imply. 

Admit,  then,  that  God  is  worth  knowing,  and  you 
must  also  admit  the  inevitable  consequence,  that 
God  is  worth  seeking.  Indeed,  it  w^ould  seem  super- 
fluous to  dwell  on  either  of  these  propositions,  w^ere 
it  not  that  in  our  own  little  corner  of  God's  uni- 
verse, filled  with  a  set  of  God's  creatures  who  style 
themselves  reasonable  beings,  there  are  yet  many 
who  can  find  time  to  amass  stores  of  human  learn- 
ing, time  to  perfect  themselves  in  all  the  wisdom 
of  this  world,  but  no  time  or  inclination  to  ask, 
"Where  is  God  my  Maker,  who  teacheth  ^e  more 
than  the  beasts  of  the  earth,  and  maketh  me  wiser 
than  the  fowls  of  heaven?"  However,  let  your 
actions  be  what  they  may,  I  do  suppose  your  under- 
standings will  hardly  refuse  their  assent  to  the  pro- 
position that  the  knowledge  of  God,  if  we  could 
attain  to  it,  would  amply  repay  us  for  any  labour 
we  might  endure  in  the  attainment. 

Neither  will  you  be  disposed  to  contradict  my 
next   assertion,   that,  whoever   this   glorious   being 


64  THE   TEST   OF   TRUTH. 

may  be,  t^  world  is  in  a  state  of  great  ignorance 
and  confusion  respecting  his  nature  and  attributes, 
and  the  kind  of  duty  and  worship  that  is  due  to 
him  from  his  creatures.  A  single  glance  at  the 
various  and  absurd  religions  of  mankind  may  suf- 
fice to  convince  us  that  God  is  not  universally,  nor 
even  generally,  known  upon  the  earth.  Out  of  so 
many  different  gods,  only  one  can  be  the  true  God. 
put  of  so  many  different  religions,  only  one  can  be 
the  right  religion.  Perhaps  you  will  say,  all  are 
equally  wrong.  Such  an  opinion  does  but  add  to 
the  force  of  my  proposition.  Whoever  God  is,  it 
must  be  alike  obvious  both  to  Christians  and  in- 
fidels that  the  world  in  general  knows  very  little 
about  him. 

If  you  agree  with  me  in  what  I  have  said, — if 
you  admit  that  God  is  worth  knowmg,  and  that  he 
is  worth  seeking,  in  an  infinitely  higher  degree  than 
any  thing  else  is  worth  knowing  or  seeking ;  and  if 
you  also  perceive  that  mankind  are  in  a  state  of 
ignorance  concerning  him, — you  will  deeply  feel  the 
importance  of  the  inquiry  I  am  about  to  propose. 
How,  amidst  this  variety  of  conflicting  opinions, 
shall  I  find  out  that  which  is  right?  Or,  if  all  are 
in  error,  where  shall  the  truth  be  sought?  What 
possible  means  can  I  take  to  become  acquainted 
with  God  my  Maker? 

Does  reason,  does  common  sense,  suggest  no 
answer  to  this  inquiry?  Do  they  not  say,  "Apply 
for  information  to  the  only  Being  who  is  likely 
to  give  it  you.      In  plain    terms,   none  can  know 


THE   TEST    OF   TRUTH.  65 

God  SO  well  as  lie  knows  himself.  Therefore,  ash 
God''? 

This  method  appears  so  obvious,  so  direct  and 
natural,  that  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  any  one 
can  object  to  it,  or  hope  to  propose  a  better.  Yet  it 
is  this  very  method  which  infidels  will  neither  them- 
selves seriously  try,  nor  permit  others  to  try,  if  they 
can  help  it.  Let  a  man  address  himself  in  good 
earnest  to  j^rayer,  and  they  will  immediately  set 
him  down  for  a  person  of  a  weak  and  shallow 
understanding,  a  mere  superstitious  driveller.  Or, 
if  he  be  known  to  possess  a  powerful  and  command- 
ing intellect,  then  they  w'ill  lament,  with  a  sigh  of 
benevolent  regret,  that  so  great  a  man  should  be 
deformed  by  so  great  a  weakness.  But  if  the  pray- 
ing person  should  carry  his  extravagance  to  such  a 
height  as  to  persuade  himself  that  God  hears  him 
when  he  prays,  and  gives  him  what  he  asks  for,  by 
what  name  will  they  designate  such  infatuation? 
They  waver  between  the  terms  hypocrite  and  mad- 
man, or,  perhaps,  suspect  that  a  combination  of 
these  characters  was  needful  to  conduct  a  man  to 
such  a  climax  of  absurdity.  And  all  this  contempt 
is  excited  because  a  reasonable  being,  actuate  by  a 
reasonable  desire  to  know  the  Author  of  his  being, 
and  by  a  reasonable  persuasion  that  none  can  teach 
him  what  he  w\ints  to  know  so  well  as  that  Author, 
avoids  every  indirect  and  circuitous  method  of  ob- 
taining the  desired  information,  and  applies  at  once 
to  God  for  the  knowledge  of  God. 

Why  should  it  seem  so  unaccountable  to  pray  to 


66  THE   TEST    OF  TRUTH. 

God?  Why  so  absurd  to  expect  an  auswer  to  our 
prayers?  I  could  let  you  into  the  secret  cause  of 
that  mingled  pity  and  disgust  with  which  you 
regard  those  who  pray.  But  for  the  present  I  for- 
bear. My  object  is  to  prove  to  you  that  their  con- 
duct is  not  quite  so  absurd  as  you  imagine.  To 
apply  to  God  himself  for  the  knowledge  of  God  is  a 
mode  of  proceeding  perfectly  just  and  rational.  It 
is  so,  whether  you  regard  the  existence  of  God  as 
certain,  or  merely  admit  it  as  possible. 

For,  in  the  first  place,  if  there  be  a  God,  he  must 
be  in  full  possession  of  the  information  you  require. 
He  cannot  but  know  himself.  He  cannot  but  know 
himself  better  than  any  other  being  hioivs  him.  He, 
therefore,  who  desires  to  know  any  thing  about  God, 
and  would  apply  to  one  most  thoroughly  informed 
on  the  subject,  must  apj^ly  to  God.  This  is  inquiring 
at  the  fountain-head.  All  other  plans,  in  com- 
parison with  this,  appear  indirect,  far-fetched,  and 
unnatural. 

2.  It  is,  also,  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  if  there 
be  a  God,  he  must  be  capable  of  hearing  all  that  his 
creatures  say  to  him.  Whether  they  address  him 
with  their  lips,  or  only  in  the  secret  of  their  hearts, 
they  cannot  be  addressing  an  unconscious  God.  A 
God,  and  yet  unconscious!  The  thing  is  impossible. 
*'He  who  made  the  ear,  shall  he  not  hear?"  He 
who  formed  the  heart,  shall  he  not  know  what  is 
passing  there?  If  we  speak  to  God,  the  probability 
of  his  hearing  us  is  the  same  with  the  probability 
of  his  existing  at  all.     On  the  other  hand,  the  argu- 


THE    TEST    OF   TRUTH.  67 

ment,  if  you  can  find  one,  Avhich  shall  prove  God 
to  be  unconscious  of  any  thing  that  we  say  or  think, 
will  at  once  set  aside  the  being  of  God  altogether. 
*rhere  is  no  God ;  or,  God  knows  all  that  is  in  my 
heart.  One  of  these  two  propositions  must  be  true. 
However  degraded  and  unworthy  notions  you  may 
entertain  of  the  Supreme  Being,  you  cannot,  in 
these  enlightened  ages,  imagine  him  to  be  ignorant 
of  what  is  going  on  in  a  world  of  his  own  making. 
Should  you,  at  any  time,  feel  disposed  to  address 
him,  you  will  not  surely  be  deterred  by  the  fear 
that  he  may  be  on  a  journey,  and  so  out  of  reach 
of  your  voice;  or  asleep,  and,  therefore,  unable  to 
listen;  or  perplexed  and  encumbered  with  such  a 
multiplicity  of  affairs  that  he  will  be  too  busy  to 
attend.  Despised  Christianity  has  taught  men  to 
discard  these  idle  notions.  If,  then,  there  be  any 
absurdity  in  praying  to  God,  it  certainly  cannot 
arise  out  of  the  circumstance  of  God's  being  in- 
capable of  hearing. 

3.  It  is  sufficiently  evident,  that  if  God  be  able  to 
hear  our  petitions,  he  is  also  able  to  grant  them, 
if  he  please.  He  who  made  our  understandings  at 
first  must  be  capable  of  illuminating  them.  He 
who  gave  us  such  capacities  for  knowing  him  must 
be  able  to  satisfy  and  fill  up  those  capacities.  We 
have  already  admitted  that  he  must  be  fully  pos- 
sessed of  the  information  we  require.  What  should 
hinder  him  from  conveying  that  information  to  us, 
if  such  should  be  his  will?  Do  you  say  that  our 
minds  are  incapable  of  being  informed  on  so  difli- 


68  THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

cult  a  subject?  You  have  no  means  of  proving  such 
an  assertion.  If  you  had,  it  would  be  no  way  to 
the  23urpose,  unless  you  could  also  prove  that  God 
cannot  render  them  capable.  Does  it  comport  even* 
with  your  own  ideas  of  the  Deity,  to  aiSirm  that  he 
has  expended  the  whole  of  his  creative  power  upon 
the  mind  of  man,  so  that  he  really  can  do  nothing 
more  to  improve  or  enlarge  it?  As  rational  crea- 
tures, we  must  be  capable  of  knowing  our  Creator; 
and  God,  as  our  Creator,  must  be  able  to  convey  to 
our  minds  the  knowledge  of  himself. 

4.  Again,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that 
as  God  is  able,  so  he  is  willing,  to  grant  oijr  peti- 
tions. You  will,  perhaps,  tell  me  that  it  is  pre- 
sumptuous to  imagine  that  a  Being  of  such  tran- 
scendent greatness  should  stoop  from  his  high  ma- 
jesty to  meddle  with  the  paltry  concerns  of  men. 
Now,  I  conceive  that,  since  it  was  not  inconsistent 
with  the  dignity  of  God  to  make  us  at  first,  we  are 
warranted  to  conclude  that  it  will  by  no  means 
derogate  from  his  greatness  to  care  about  us  when 
we  are  made.  It  argues  a  kind  of  puerile  incon- 
sistency, rather  than  godlike  majesty,  to  make 
man,  and  then  throw  him  aside  without  further 
thought  of  what  happens  to  him.  But  this  objection 
takes  its  rise  from  the  narrowness  of  your  own 
understanding.  Because  you  cannot  attend  to  a 
great  many  things  at  a  time,  you  think  God  cannot. 
Do  not  let  comparisons  of  this  nature  mislead  you. 
Be  assured  that  God's  powers  of  attention  cannot, 
with  any  propriety,  be  measured  by  yours.      His 


THE   TEST    OF  TPwUTH.  69 

mind  can  neither  be  oppressed  by  a  variety,  nor 
encumbered  by  a  multiplicity,  of  objects.  Witness 
this  universe  which  he  has  created.  Nor  is  his 
.greatness  of  so  fragile  and  perishable  a  nature  that 
it  can  receive  any  injury  by  stooping  to  the  lowest 
or  meanest  object.  The  little  dignitaries  of  the 
earth  may  fear  to  attend  to  little  things,  lest  they 
should  appear  incapable  of  what  is  great,  or  should 
really  neglect  it;  for  they  cannot  attend  to  the  one 
without  neglecting  the  other.  It  is  not  so  with 
God.  Do  you  say  that  he  will  not  stoop  to  mind 
little  things?  Look  around  you.  Behold  what 
minute  attention  he  has  bestowed  upon  thousands 
of  objects  which  to  us  appear  small  and  insig- 
nificant! See  how  curiously  he  has  painted  the 
wings  of  the  butterfly!  How  softly  he  has  pen- 
cilled the  cups  of  the  snowdrop!  Let  the  little 
daisy,  which  you  carelessly  tread  under  foot,  declare 
who  shaped  its  many  leaflets,  who  tipped  them  with 
crimson,  and  placed  in  the  midst  a  circle  of  gold. 
Which  of  the  birds  has  God  forgotten  to  feed  ? 
Which  of  the  insects,  that  dance  in  the  sunbeam, 
has  he  left  unfinished  for  want  of  time,  or  because 
of  their  insignificance?  How  has  he  descended 
from  his  majesty  to  give  lessons  of  wisdom  to  the 
little  ant  and  the  bee!  In  the  whole  kingdom 
of  nature,  we  cannot  perceive  one  instance  of  hasty 
inattention  or  of  supercilious  dignity.  God  has 
forgotten  nothing.  He  has  despised  nothing.  How 
can  we  conceive,  then,  that  he  should  forget  or 
despise  us?    Why  should  the  prayers  of  his  rational 


70  THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

creatures  alone  escape  his  notice?  Why  should 
their  souls  be  too  insignificant  to  attract  his  benevo- 
lent attention?  Besides,  what  should  induce  you 
to  suppose  that  a  soul  is  a  small  or  valueless  thing 
in  the  sight  of  God?  Think  you  that  he  has  laid 
out  so  much  wisdom  upon  making  and  informing  a 
thing  of  little  ivorthf  He  has  made  us  capable  of 
knowing  him.  This  marks  our  value  in  his  sight; 
for  nothing  can  be  worthless  that  is  capable  of 
knowing  God.  And  it  affords  us  a  sufficient  inti- 
mation, that  if  we  ask  God  for  the  knowledge  of 
which  he  has  made  us  capable,  he  will  be  willing  to 
give  it  to  us.  We  cannot  be  accused  of  offering  an 
unreasonable  petition,  when  we  desire  only  to  know 
Him  who  made  us ;  for  without  this  knowledge  we 
might  as  well  have  been  made,  in  all  respects,  like 
the  irrational  creatures. 

5.  But  not  only  are  we  justified  in  supposing  that 
God  is  willing  to  teach  us,  we  have  also  every 
reason  to  infer  that  he  is  more  willing  to  instruct 
those  who  pray  than  those  who  do  not  pray  to  him ; 
to  bestow  his  gifts  upon  those  who  appear  desirous  of 
obtaining  them,  rather  than  upon  those  who  set  on 
them  no  value  whatever.  For  a  creature  not  to  seek 
the  knowledge  of  his  Creator  is  a  neglect  which  be- 
speaks him  to  be  sunk  in  the  most  besotted  stu- 
pidity and  the  vilest  ingratitude.  To  revel  in  the 
gifts,  and  forget  the  Giver,  or  to  remember  him 
with  indiflTerence;  to  thirst  after  earthly  wisdom, 
and  yet  to  have  no  ardent  aspirations  after  Him 
who  is  the  fountain  of  true  wisdom,   argues  such 


TUE   TEST    OF    TRUTH.  71 

gross  perverseness  and  inconsistency  that  we  cannot 
much  wonder  if  God  should  leave  those  who  are 
guilty  of  it  to  grope  in  their  own  beloved  ignorance. 
But  U)  pretend  that  we  aspire  to  know  God,  and  yet 
to  neglect  even  the  effort  of  asking  him  to  teach  us, 
this  Ls  indeed  to  add  to  all  our  other  crimes  that 
barefaced  hypocrisy  which  can  scarcely  impose  upon 
men,  and  openly  insults  God.  Little  as  we  know 
of  this  infinite  Being,  the  secret  instinct,  which 
himself  has  planted  in  our  hearts,  may  teach  us 
that  he  will  not  probably  bestow  his  most  precious 
gifts  without  some  expression  of  desire  on  our  parts. 
He  may  reasonably  expect  that  we  should  not  show 
ourselves  quite  insensible  to  our  need  of  this  divine 
teaching,  and  may  justly  conclude  that  what  we  do 
not  choose  to  solicit  we  do  not  desire  to  obtain. 

But  I  think  I  hear  you  reply,  "Shall  I  offer  such 
an  insult  to  the  omniscience  of  God  as  to  imagine 
that  he  needs  to  be  informed  of  my  wants?"  Who 
requires  you  to  entertain  so  absurd  a  supposition? 
We  do  not  tell  you  that  prayer  is  necessary  for 
God's  information,  but  for  your  relief.  He  may 
know  all  your  wants,  and  yet  require  that  you 
should  have  a  sense  of  them,  and  should  express 
that  sense  to  him,  before  he  will  grant  you  a  supply. 
He  may  know  that  prayer,  as  the  means  of  soften- 
ing, humbling,  and  purifying  your  hearts,  is  not 
the  least  pressing  of  your  necessities.  He  who  has 
made  you  capable  of  receiving  consolation  by  pour- 
ing out  your  troubles  into  the  bosom  of  a  friend, 
may  be  willing  that  you  should  enjoy  the  infinitely 


72  THE   TEST   OF   TRUTH. 

superior  relief  of  coDfiding  your  wants  and  sorrows 
to  the  ear  of  his  mercy.  None  of  these  suppositions 
are  impossible  or  improbable,  even  upon  your  own 
notions  of  the  Deity.  Inasmuch  as  you  believe 
that  God  is  a  distinguished  and  a  benevolent  Being, 
they  are  far  more  probable  than  the  contrary  sup- 
position. 

You  reason  more  justly  on  points  which  aifect 
your  temporal  interests.  You  do  not  refuse  to 
plough  and  sow,  to  plant  and  water,  because  God 
already  knows  that  you  want  the  fruits  of  the  earth, 
and  ought,  therefore,  to  give  them  to  you  without 
your  wearisome  toil.  You  care  not  to  spend  many 
an  anxious  hour  in  the  acquisition  of  useful  know- 
ledge, because  God  knows  that  it  would  be  very 
useful  to  you,  and. is,  therefore,, bound  to  instil  it 
into  your  mind  without  your  pains.  No ;  in  these 
things  your  worldly  interest  or  pleasure  is  con- 
cerned. You  have  a  real  desire  for  them.  And 
therefore,  instead  of  sitting  down  to  philosophize  on 
the  part  that  God  ought  to  take  on  the  occasion, 
you  immediately  set  yourself  to  do  what  you  can, 
and  employ,  without  hesitation,  whatever  means 
seem  best  suited  to  your  purpose. 

Prayer  seems  to  be  the  only  direct  and  rational 
means  of  obtaining  the  knowledge  of  God.  For 
there  is  no  other  being  in  the  universe  to  whom  we 
can  apply  with  such  certainty  of  not  being  misled. 
Yet  truly  you  will  not  pray  to  God,  because  he 
needs  none  of  your  information.  Let  me  tell  you, 
that  if  you  really  long  to  acquaint  yourself  with 


THE   Ti:ST   OF  TRUTH.  73 

God,  the  sense  of  your  need  would  wring  from  you 
the  most  earnest  supplications,  nor  would  you  be  at 
leisure  to  consider  whether  or  no  you  were  convey- 
ing to- him  a  piece  of  superfluous  information.  The 
heart  that  is  touched  with  a  desire  to  know  God  will 
be  lifting  itself  up  in  prayer,  while  others  are  rea- 
soning upon  the  propriety  of  so  doing. 

Again:  I  would  remind  you  that  although  God 
is  not  ignorant  how  much  we  need  to  be  rightly 
informed  about  him,  yet  the  state  of  the  world 
affords  sufficient  proof  that  he  has  not  in  all  cases 
relieved  this  necessity.  So  that  his  perfect  know- 
ledge of  our  wants  does  not,  as  an  inevitable  con- 
sequence and  without  any  application  on  our  parts, 
produce  the  relief  of  our  wants.  Besides,  you  have 
already  waited  some  twenty,  thirty,  forty  years. 
All  this  time  God  has  been  aware  of  your  need  of 
instruction.  Yet  you  are  still  in  a  state  of  doubt 
and  ignorance.  Surely  you  have  waited  long 
enough  to  see  whether  God  will  grant  a  spon- 
taneous relief  to  your  necessities.  It  is  now  high 
time  to  employ  means  for  the  attainment  of  your 
wish.  And  since  prayer  has  been  shown  to  be  the 
most  likely  and  natural  means,  let  me  advise  you 
at  once  to  try  what  prayer  can  do  for  you.  At  all 
events,  you  will  not  then  have  to  reproach  yourself 
with  having  lost  the  best  blessing  in  the  universe 
for  want  of  asking. 

6.  But,  lastly,  whatever  be  the  result  of  your 
prayers,  they  certaiiily  cannot  leave  you  in  a  worse 
condition  than  before.  For,  supposing  even  that 
7 


74  THE   TEST   OF    TRUTH. 

God  should  refuse  to  grant  your  petition,  it  is  of  all 
things  the  most  unlikely  and  inconceivable  that  he 
should  take  a  malignant  pleasure  in  thwarting  your 
desires,  by  giving  you  the  very  contrary  of  what 
you  ask.  Should  "he  refuse  to  give  you  knowledge, 
he  will  not  at  least  visit  you  wuth  an  increase  of 
ignorance  and  delusion.  The  argument  with  which 
Jesus  Christ  urges  this  subject,  if  not  divinely 
uttered,  is,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  the  most  wise, 
api^ropriate,  and  convincing  that  ever  fell  from  the 
lips  of  man  or  angel : — 

"TjT  a  S071  shall  ask  bread  of  any  of  you  that  is  a 
father,  will  he  give  him  a  stone  f  or  if  he  ask  a  fish, 
will  he  for  a  fish  give  him  a  serpent?  or  if  he  shall 
ask  an  egg,  will  he  offer  him  a  scorpion  f     If  ye 

THEN,  BEING  EVIL,  KNOW  HOW  TO  GIVE  GOOD  GIFTS 
UNTO  YOUR  CHILDREN,  HOW  MUCH  MORE  SHALL 
Y^OUR  HEAVENLY  FATHER  GIVE  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT 
TO   THEM  THAT   ASK    HIM?"^ 

The  simple  majesty  of  this  appeal  must  find  its 
way  to  every  bosom.  It  must  be  felt  by  all  whose 
hearts  have  throbbed  with  a  parent's  love  or  whose 
wants  have  been  supplied  by  a  parent's  bounty.  It 
applies  to  the  ideas  which  the  Deist  entertains  of 
God,  as  well  as  to  those  w^hich  are  cherished  by  the 
follower  of  Jesus.  According  to  your  own  notions 
(if  notions  you  may  be  said  to  have,  where  all  is  so 
vague  and  indistinct),  you  reject  with  abhorrence 
the  idea  that  the  God  wdio  made  and  who  pre- 
serves you  is  an  Unnatural  Father,  who  with  wanton 
1  Luke  xi.  n-13. 


THE  TEST   OF  TRUTH.  75 

cruelty  would  thwart  the  noblest  aim  and  cast 
down  the  most  reasonable  hope  of  his  own  offspring. 
Such  a  character  of  God  is  not  to  be  found  in  the 
wildest  ravings  of  impiety.  Could  any  one  believe 
this  of  God,  despair  would  soon  jirey  upon  his  ex- 
istence. Yet  this  principle  you  indirectly  maintain, 
this  solemn  insult  you  offer  to  the  character  of  God, 
when  you  assert  that  habits  of  prayer  lead  to  enthu- 
siasm. Not  only  so,  but  you  outrage  the  common 
sense  and  common  feeling  of  mankind,  which  de- 
clare, as  by  an  instinct  implanted  by  the  Giver  of 
life  himself,  that  a  father  cannot  turn  the  petition 
of  his  child  into  derision.  But  you  say  that  the 
great,  the  original  Father  can  and  does  act  thus  in 
opposition  to  his  own  universal  law.  You  say  that 
when  his  children  ask  bread  he  mocks  them  with 
a  stone;  when  they  implore  food  he  offers  them 
naught  but  the  scorpion's  venom.  When  a  man, 
deeply  impressed  with  a  sense  of  his  ignorance,  asks 
of  God  the  knowledge  of  his  holy  will,  no  sooner 
does  he  betake  himself  to  this  way  of  gaining  in- 
formation than  you  cry  out  that  he  is  possessed 
with  the  spirit  of  delusion  and  enthusiasm.  The 
more  earnestly  and  frequently  he  entreats  God  to 
give  him  light  and  truth,  the  more  deluded  you  think 
him;  that  is  {for  it  will  bearno  other  interpretation), 
you  think  that  God  derides  the  requests  of  his  crea- 
tures, and  forces  them  deeper  into  the  maze  of  igno- 
rance and  error,  for  no  other  cause  but  because 
they  have  stretched  out  their  hands  to  him  to  ex- 
tricate them.     Ye  who  profess  to  make  reason  your 


76  THE   TEST    OF  TRUTH. 

guide,  tell  me,  was  it  reason  that  led  you  to  this  con- 
clusion? Where  will  you  find  in  the  Bible  any  mode 
of  arguing  half  so  absurd  as  this  is? 

A  brief  recapitulation  of  the  above  observations 
may  not  be  unnecessary.  We  have  remarked  that 
God  must  be  in  full  possession  of  the  information 
we  require;  that  he  must  be  able  to  hear  us  when 
we  pray  to  him, — able  to  give  us  what  we  ask;  that 
we  have  great  reason  to  infer  that  he  is  willing  to 
hear  and  teach  us, — ?}iore  willing  to  teach  those  who 
ash  him  than  those  who  do  not  ask  him ;  and,  lastly, 
that,  be  the  result  of  our  application  what  it  may,  it 
cannot  leave  us  in  a  worse  state  than  we  were  in 
before.  From  all  these  things  I  infer  that  to  seek 
the  knowledge  of  God  by  prayer  is  no  absurd  or 
irrational  mode  of  procedure :  nay,  more ;  that  tlii3 
expediency  of  prayer  is  in  the  same  ratio  with  the 
probability  of  God's  existence.  Or,  to  accommodate 
myself  to  the  lowest  degree  of  belief,  the  very 
slightest  possibility  that  there  is  a  God,  affords  an 
equal  possibility  that  he  may  instruct  us  in  answer  to 
our  prayers,  and,  therefore,  renders  the  act  of  prayer 
reasonable  and  expedient.  The  saying  of  Jesus 
Christ,  "Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you," — "  God 
will  give  his  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him,"^ 
— is  not  only  the  voice  of  the  Bible,  but  the  voice 
of  reason,  the  voice  of  nature,  and,  therefore,  the 
voice  of  God. 

But  we  have  hitherto  considered  this  saying  only 
in  itself.  I  propose,  secondly,  to  consider  it  in  con- 
i  Luke  xi.  9,  13. 


THE    TEST   OF  TRUTH.  77 

nection  "with  the  book  in  Avhich  it  is  written,  and  to 
propose  it  as  a  fair  and  sufficient  test  of  the  truth  or 
falsehood  of  that  book. 

It  appears,  from  the  common  confession  of  Chris- 
tians and  infidels,  that  the  world  is,  to  say  the  least, 
not  very  well  furnished  with  the  knowledge  of  its 
Maker.  Nothing,  therefore,  which  offers  the  smallest 
hope  of  obtaining  light  upon  this  momentous  subject, 
ought  to  be  passed  over  without  inquiry.  A  book 
has  been  handed  down  to  us,  professing  to  be  a  reve- 
lation from  God  to  man,  and  offering  him  all  the 
knowledge  of  which  he  stands  in  need.  This  book 
is  by  some  blindly  embraced  for  the  very  same  reason 
that  would  have  induced  them,  under  other  circum- 
stances, to  have  adopted  the  Alcoran,  the  Shaster, 
or  the  Zendavesta.  Others  profess  to  receive  it 
upon  rational  grounds  of  conviction,  and  to  hold 
actual  communication  with  the  Deity  who  is  re- 
vealed in  its  sacred  message.  A  third  party  reject 
the  book  altogether,  and  cast  it  from  them  with 
every  mark  of  contempt.  With  these  last  I  would 
now  speak.  Do  not  reject  even  the  Bible  till  you 
have  put  its  truth  or  falsehood  fairly  to  the  test. 
But  you  say,  "How  are  we  to  try  it?  All  the  evi- 
dence we  meet  with  appears  to  us  insufficient.  We 
refuse  to  give  credit  to  the  writings  of  the  apos- 
tles. We  never  saw  the  miracles  they  relate;  they 
are  not,  therefore,  calculated  for  our-  conviction. 
Such  things  are  contrary  to  our  experience,  shock 
our  common  sense,  and  we  wTite  '  imposture'  upon 
them  all.  As  for  the  revelation  they  prefond  to 
7* 


78  THE    TEST    OF   TKUTH. 

have  received  from  God,  that  revelation  never  came 
to  us.  We  are  in  no  respect  benefited  by  it.  If 
God  will  have  us  to  believe  as  they  did,  he  must 
reveal  himself  to  us  as  he  did  to  them.  We  cannot 
receive  the  thing  at  second-hand.  When  the  God 
of  the  Scriptures  shall  favour  us  by  revealing  him- 
self to  us, —  when  he  shall  afford  us  some  infalli- 
ble test  whereby  we  may  prove  that  his  word  is 
true, — then  we  will  open  our  minds  to  conviction. 
But  till  then  we  must  retain  our  doubts  upon  the 
subject." 

Such  is  the  reasoning  we  repeatedly  hear  from 
the  lips  of  infidels.  I  will  not  now  stop  to  admire 
the  happy  self-complacency  with  which  you  boldly 
pronounce  a  thing  to  be  impossible,  because  it  has 
never  happened  within  the  little  span  of  your  expe- 
rience, and  unreasonable,  because  it  surpasses  the 
narrow  bounds  of  your  understanding.  Neither 
will  I  pause  to  extol  the  spirit  with  which,  as  a 
creature,  you  think  proper  to  dictate  to  your 
Creator.  Waiving  all  consideration  of  the  terms 
in  which  you  express  yourself,  I  admit  the  general 
truth  of  your  proposition.  I  am  persuaded  that 
you  never  Avill  believe  the  Scriptures  till  God  him- 
self "opens  your  understanding  to  understand  the 
ScrijDtures."  And  I  tell  you  that  these  same  Scrip- 
tures contain  an  abundant  provision  against  the 
difficulties  you  have  raised.  They  offer  you  ample 
means  of  proving,  by  your  own  personal  experience, 
whether  they  be  true  or  false.  That  immediate  reve- 
lation ivhich  you  profess  to  desire,  is  actually  promised 


THE   TEST    OF   TRUTH.  79 

to  you,  npo7i  the  simple  condition  of  your  aahing  for  it. 
'^Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you."^ 

What  is  the  gift  here  promised  ?  It  is  no  other 
than  "the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation,  who 
shall  guide  you  into  all  truth."  "For  every  one 
that  asketh  receiveth;  and  he  that^seeketh  findeth; 
and  to  him  that  knocketh  it  shall  be  opened.  For 
if  ye,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto 
your  children,  hoiv  much  more  shall  your  heavenly 
Father  give  his  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  himf 

Take  Jesus  Christ  at  his  word.  The  experi- 
ment is  at  once  simple  and  decisive.  Should  it  fail, 
you  will  then  have  some  reason  to  reject  the  Bible. 
Truth,  immutable  truth,  is  one  of  the  attributes 
which  reason  and  Scripture  concur  in  ascribing  to 
God.  We  cannot  form  to  ourselves  the  conception 
of  a  God  who  can  lie.  To  divest  God  of  his  attri- 
bute of  truth  is  to  strip  him  of  his  Godhead,  to 
l)ring  him  down  to  a  level  with  ourselves.  The 
Bible  makes  this  a  grand  distinction  between  God 
and  man: — "God  is  not  a  man,  that  he  should  lie." 
"ITe  is  ever  mindful  of  his  covenant;"  but  they,  like 
men,  "  have  transgressed  the  covenant."  ^ 

Here,  then,  the  question  is  brought  within  a  very 
narrow  compass.  If  the  Creator  of  the  universe  be 
the  same  God  who  is  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  he 
cannot  but  honour  his  own  word  of  promise.  He 
has  pledged  himself;  he  cannot  hut  redeem  his  pledge. 

^  See  the  author's  interesting  and  satisfactory  application  of 
this  Test  to  her  own  case,  pp.  124-127. 

2  Numb,  xxiii.  19:   Psalm  cxi.  5;  Joshua  vli.  11. 


80  THE   TEST    of"  TRUTH. 

Every  attribute  of  the  Deity  binds  liim  to  the  per- 
formance of  his  promise.  His  name — his  great  and 
terrible  name — is  dishonoured  forever  in  the  sight  of 
men  and  angels  if  he  fail  to  fulfil  this  word  which 
is  past  and  cannot  be  recalled, — "  God  will  give  his 
Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him."  Such  is  the 
Scripture  account.  If  it  be  false,  you  have  an  easy 
way  to  detect  its  falsehood;  if  true,  it  is  in  your 
power  to  convince  yourself  of  its  truth.  Put  to  the 
test  this  bold  assertion.  Ask  your  heavenly  Father 
to  give  you  his  Holy  Spirit.  If  your  prayer  be 
granted,  the  Bible,  with  all  its  rich  proffers  of  present 
peace  and  eternal  happiness,  wall  become  your  j)or- 
tion  and  reward  forever.  If,  on  the  contrary,  your 
ardent,  persevering  prayers  should  bring  down  no 
supplies  of  light  and  knowledge  from  above,  then 
you  may  not  only  with  great  justice  pronounce  the 
Bible  to  be  an  impudent  imposture,  but  you  will 
be  justified  in  doubting  whether  there  be  any  God 
at  all. 

I  would  press  this  upon  you,  because  no  external 
evidence,  however  satisfactory,  is  of  itself  sufficient 
to  produce  conviction.  The  proof  must  be  written 
by  the  finger  of  God  upon  your  heart.  It  must  be 
the  result  of  your  own  actual  and  personal  ex- 
perience. "  No  man  can  say"  from  the  heart  "  that 
Jesus  is  the  Lord,- ^16^  hy  the  Holy  Ghost"  If  you 
believe  in  Jesus,  it  must  be  because  God  has  re- 
vealed Jesus  in  your  soul.  This  revelation  is 
promised  by  God  to  all  that  ask  him.  Upon 
slighter    grounds   you   ought  not   to   believe  such 


THE    TEST    OF    TRUTH.  81 

momentous  truths.  With  less  than  this  you  ought 
not  to  be  satisfied.  Permit  me,  before  I  quit  this 
subject,  to  urge  you,  by  a  few  unanswerable  argu- 
ments, to  put  tlie  Bible  to  this  test.  The  task  miglit 
almost  appear  superfluous ;  but  the  perverseness  of 
the  human  heart  is  beyond  conception,  and  requires 
to  be  combated  where  it  would  be  least  suspected 
of  resistance. 

First,  then,  I  would  remark  to  you  that  there  is 
sojnething  in  this  saying"  which  stamps  on  it  an  air 
of  conscious  honesty  and  veracity.  An  artful  person 
would  hardly  have  committed  himself  so  grossly. 
A  liar  would  have  hesitated  to  expose  himself  to 
such  immediate  detection.  An  impostor  would  not 
willingly  have  courted  such  close  examination. 
Those  who  forge  the  current  coin  of  the  realm  are 
the  least  likely  to  furnish  us  with  a  method  of  dis- 
tinguishing the  counterfeit.  If  I  wished  to  palm 
upon  you  a  fictitious  account  of  any  person,  that 
person  himself  would  surely  be  the  last  to  whom  I 
should  choose  to  refer  you  for  the  truth  of  my  ac- 
count. Still  more  absurd  would  such  a  reference 
be  if  I  knew  that  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  said 
person  instantly  to  detect  and  expose  my  falsehood. 
But  the  Bible  gives  you  an  account  of  God,  and 
then  refers  you  to  God  himself  for  the  confirmation 
of  that  account.  Nor  is  this  one  of  those  ranting, 
contemptible  appeals  to  the  Deity  with  which  men 
will  sometimes  seek  to  cloak  their  falsehood  or  to 
vent  their  enthusiasm.  It  is  a  calm,  sober,  delibe- 
rate assurance,   founded   on   the  benevolence  and 


82  THE   TEST    OF    TRUTH. 

■wisdom  of  the  Divine  Being.  Foreseeing  all  the 
doubts  and  difficulties  which  would  obstruct  the 
reception  of  his  gospel,  Jesus  himself  vouchsafes  to 
point  out  a  ready  way  of  arriving  at  the  truth.  He 
founds  his  arguments  on  the  strongest  and  most  uni- 
versal principles  of  natural  religion.  Would  you 
know  whether  he  is  indeed  a  teacher  sent  from  God? 
He  refers  you  to  God  himself  for  an  answer.  He 
declares  to  you  that  you  cannot  believe  him  to  be 
the  Lord  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  At  the  same  time, 
he  solemnly  promises  that  this  Holy  Spirit  shall  be  given 
to  you  upon  your  asking. 

Try,  now,  whether  he  is  able  to  keep  his  promise 
or  no.  Whoever  God  is,  he  will  not  refuse  to  in- 
struct you  at  your  request.  Or,  should  he  refuse,  he 
will  not  at  least  lend  himself  to  delude  and  ensnare 
you.  Jesus  tells  you  that  his  doctrine  is  the  bread 
of  life.  Should  it,  on  the  contrary,  prove  to  be 
nothing  better  than  a  stone  or  scorpion,  be  assured 
that  your  heavenly  Father  will  not  force  it  upon 
you,  when  you  ask  him  for  bread. 

The  next  remark  I  would  offer  for  your  considera- 
tion is,  that,  however  secure  you  may  think  your- 
self in  your  rejection  of  Christianity,  it  is  possible 
you  may  be  mistaken.  I  say,  it  is  possible  that  you 
may,  after  all,  be  in  the  wrong.  Not  all  your  security 
can  reach  so  far  as  to  preclude  this  possibility;  and 
what  an  eternity  of  despair  does  it  involve!  Your 
judgment  is  not  infallible.  If  you  think  you  have 
no  proof  that  the  Scriptures  are  divinely  inspired, 
you  know  assuredly  that  you  have  no  proof  to  the 


THE   TEST    OF  TRUTH.  83 

contrary.  A  mi.stake  here  is  no  trifling  matter. 
You  had  bettor  play  the  fool  on  any  other  subject 
than  on  thi-s;  for  should  things  turn  out  contrary 
to  your  expectations,  you  will  bitterly  curse  your 
own  folly.  The  idiot,  the  madman,  may  sport  with 
this  tremendous  uncertainty.  But  the  wise  man 
will  consider  every  possible  contingency.  I  repeat, 
that  it  is  possible  your  contempt  of  the  Bible  may 
be  unfounded.  Place  this  as  far  off  as  you  are  able, 
still  you  cannot  deny  that  it  is  posHihle. 

Reflect  now,  I  beseech  you,  on  another  possibility, 
which  hangs  on  the  one  I  have  just  mentioned.  It 
in  POSSIBLE  that  you  may  one  day  stand  before  the 
jvdfjinent-seat  of  Christ.  Should  such  an  event  take 
place,  what  excuse  will  you  offer  for  having  rejected 
the  gospel,  when  Jesus  himself  pointed  out  to  you 
so  simple  and  unfailing  a  test  of  its  truth?  Will 
you  not  stand  condemned  even  in  your  own  eyes? 
Will  not  conscience  upbraid  you  with  the  incredible 
infatuation  with  which  you  refused  to  give  the  word 
of  God  a  fair  trial?  Say,  will  not  your  rejection 
of  the  test  I  now  oflfer  you,  if — which  God  forbid  I 
— you  do  reject  it,  will  not  this  be  a  dreadful  aggra- 
vation of  your  crime  ?  You  cannot  plead  ignorance, 
when  knowledge  was  offered  you  at  so  easy  a  rate. 
You  cannot  plead  uncertainty,  when  so  ready  a  way 
of  solving  every  doubt  was  pointed  out  to  you  by 
Him  who  will  then  be  your  Judge.  You  might  have 
asked  and  received.  You  might  have  sought  and 
found.  Then  will  you  justly  be  left  to  ask  and  to 
Beek  in  vain.     Now  Christ  says,  "Ask,  and  it  shall 


84  THE   TEST   OF   TRUTH. 

be  given  unto  you."  Reject  his  offer,  and  this  very 
word  which  he  has  spoken  to  you  shall  judge  you 
in  that  day. 

Not  only  will  you  then  appear  without  excuse 
before  God,  but,  whether  the  Bible  be  true  or  false, 
if  you  refuse  to  try  it  by  this  criterion  you  are  7iow 
without  excuse  before  men  and  your  own  conscience. 
Such  a  refusal  speaks  for  itself.  It  says,  "  I  love 
darkness  rather  than  light ;  I  will  not  come  to  the 
light,  lest  my  deeds  should  be  reproved."^  It  "says 
to  the  Almighty,  'Depart  from  me;  for  I  desire  not 
the  knowledge  of  thy  ways.'"^  Such  conduct  is 
not  founded  in  reason;  for  reason  forbids  us  to  con- 
demn what  we  have  not  tried.  It  is  not  supported 
hy  philosojjJiy ;  for  it  is  A er  character  to  use  every 
possible  means  for  the  discovery  of  truth  and  the 
detection  of  error.  It  is  not  consistent  with  honesty; 
for  what  can  be  more  dishonest  than  to  plead  the 
absence  of  sufficient  proof  as  a  reason  for  not  be- 
lieving, and'  yet,  when  that  proof  is  offered,  to 
decline  taking  the  necessary  steps  for  its  attain- 
ment! It  is  easy  to  perceive  the  secret  spring  of  a 
refusal,  which  is  equally  incompatible  with  the  dic- 
tates of  reason,  philosophy,  and  honesty.  You  do 
not  ivish  to  have  your  prejudices  removed.  You 
would  rather  not  know  any  thing  about  Him  that 
made  you.  Self  is  your  idol;  and  how  can  you 
desire  to  become  acquainted  with  One  whose  presence 
in  your  soul  would  destroy  all  self-pleasing  and  self- 
exaltation  forever? 

1  See  John  iii.  19,  20.  2  See  Job  xxi.  14. 


THE    TEST    OF   TRUTH.  85 

However,  we  have  a  right  to  expect  that,  if  you 
will  not  make  trial  of  the  truth  of  Christ's  word, 
you  will  at  once  confess  that  all  your  boasted  can- 
dour and  philosophy  were  mere  pretences,  held  forth 
to  conceal  the  foul  reality  of  your  enmity  against 
God.  Till  you  have  tried  this  test,  the  terms  fana- 
ticism and  delusion  may  with  far  greater  reason  be 
used  to  designate  your  rejection,  than  our  belief,  of 
Christianity. 

Again,  supposing  the  Bible  to  be  false,  you  lose 
nothing  by  having  brought  it  to  this  touchstone. 
The  trial,  if  it  should  fail,  will  but  leave  you  just 
as  you  were  before.  Nay,  it  will  be  so  far  an  ad- 
vantage, that  you  will  have  the  pleasure  of  detect- 
ing a  barefaced  fraud,  and  will  be  effectually  freed 
from  those  secret  misgivings  which  you  cannot  now 
altogether  exclude. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  Scriptures  be  true,  lioiv 
immensely  will  you  gain  by  the  experiment!  Instead 
of  a  few  vague,  ill-defined  notions  of  God,  you  will 
be  able  to  say,  "I  knoiu  in  whom  I  luive  believed;" 
"  this  God  is  my  God  for  ever  and  ever ;"  ^  your 
short-lived  snatches  of  unholy  mirth  will  be  ex- 
changed for  "  a  joy  with  which  no  stranger  iuter- 
meddleth;"^  your  cold  and  sullen  fortitude,  for  a 
peace  which  the  world  can  ne'ther  give  nor  take 
away;  your  comfortless  prospect  of  annihilation,  for 
a  hope  full  of  immortality. 

T^  last  consideration  I  shall  urge  upon  you  is, 
that  this  is  the  only  fair  test  by  ivhich  the  Bible  can 

I  2  Tim.  i.  12;  Psalm  xlviii.  14.  2  pj-ov.  xiv.  14. 

8 


86  THE   TEST    OF    TRUTH. 

be  tried.  For  if  you  refuse  to  be  guided  by  this 
criterion  there  is  but  one  other  to  which  you  can 
possibly  recur.  You  may,  if  you  please,  bring  the 
Scriptures  to  the  bar  of  human  reason,  and  reject 
them,  because  you  find  many  things  you  do  not 
comprehend,  and  many  that  you  do  not  approve. 
But  these  grounds  of  rejection  are  insufficient. 

For,  in  the  first  place,  if  the  Bible  be  true,  its 
author  is  God.  Now,  there  is  between  your  mind 
and  the  mind  of  God  an  inconceivable  distance. 
It  is  extremely  probable  that  many  things  may 
appear  to  his  infinitely  comprehensive  understand- 
ing in  a  light  totally  different  from  that  in  which 
they  are  viewed  by  your  narrow  and  limited  reason. 
To  use  the  words  of  the  Bible  itself,  it  is  possible 
that  "  God's  ways  may  not  be  as  your  ways,  nor  his 
thoughts  as  your  thoughts."^  If,  then,  his  book 
should  turn  out  to  be  somewhat  difierent  from  the 
Bible  you  would  have  written,  I  really  do  not  see 
that  this  is  a  sufficient  reason  for  rejecting  it.  Con- 
sider the  vast  diflference  of  ideas  which  inequality 
of  intellect  creates  between  two  beings  of  the  same 
nature, — a  child  and  a  man.  Set  before  a  little 
child  the  Elements  of  Euclid  or  the  Principia  of 
Newton.  Will  they  not  be  foolishness  to  him?  Or, 
present  him  with  the  last  debates  in  the  houses  of 
Parliament,  and  request  his  opinion  upon  the  dis- 
puted point, — the  justness  of  the  arguments  in  its 
favour,  or  the  force  of  those  that  were  opposed*to  it. 
Is  he  cap.able  of  forming  a  correct  estimate  of  these 

1  Isaiah  Iv.  8. 


THE    TEST    OF    TRUTH.  87 

tliiugs?  But  tliey  ave  matters  that  do  not  imme- 
diately concern  him.  Well,  then,  let  me  propose 
that  you  acquaint  him  with  the  plans  you  may  have 
formed  for  his  education  and  fortune;  the  studies 
he  will  have  to  pursue,  with  their  different  degrees 
of  usefulness;  the  snares  that  will  be  laid  for  his 
youth,  and  the  anxieties  that  await  his  manhood. 
When  you  have  finished  your  statement,  let  the 
young  reasoner  be  called  upon  to  give  his  ideas  on 
the  subject,  and  point  out  how  far  your  remarks 
meet  with  his  approval.  All  this  appears  very 
absurd  to  you.  But  it  is  without  comparison  more 
absurd  to  fancy  yourself  cajDable  of  judging  of  the 
authenticity  of  God's  word  by  its  agreement  or  dis- 
agreement with  your  own  most  imperfect  notions. 

Notwithstanding  the  child's  incapacity  of  judg- 
ment, he  is,  in  one  respect,  a  better  reasoner  than 
yourself.  Strange  and  unaccountable  as  your  senti- 
ments must  sometimes  appear  to  him,  he  does  not 
therefore  reject  them  as  absurd  or  untrue.  He 
knows  that  it  is  owing  to  the  imperfection  of  his  own 
mind  that  things  appear  so  differently  to  him  from 
what  they  do  to  you.  This  feeling  sense  of  his  own 
inferiority  is  his  best  preservative  from  error.  But 
you  cannot  bring  yourself  to  confess  that  the  judg- 
ment of  God  may  often  differ  exceedingly  from 
your  judgment,  nay,  that  they  may  be  directly  con- 
trary the  one  to  the  other.  You  cannot  condescend 
to  be  inferior  to  God,  and  to  learn  of  God, — sub- 
mitting your  mind  to  his  as  a  little  child  submits 
his  mind  to  the  mind  of  his  father. 


88  THE   TEST   OF    TRUTH. 

Yet  between  the  understanding  of  the  child  and 
the  man  there  is  no  such  great  difference.  It  is 
but  the  distance  between  finite  and  finite,  between 
worm  and  worm.  Between  man  and  God,  between 
finite  and  infinite,  between  the  mind  that  thinks 
and  the  mind  that  creates  thought,  who  shall  cal- 
culate the  difierence?  It  is  immeasurable,  incom- 
prehensible. Imagination  would  grasp  at  the  idea, 
but  it  is  too  mighty  for  her.  We  can  but  express  it 
by  another  incommensurable  distance: — "surely  as 
the  heavens  are  higher  than  the  earth,  so  are  God's 
thoughts  higher  than  our  thoughts,  and  his  ways 
than  our  ways."^  Poor,  pitiful,  narrow-minded 
creatures  that  we  are!  If  God  does  but  give  to 
one  of  our  fellow-creatures  a  mind  a  few  degrees 
larger  than  our  own,  we  can  scarcely  judge  of  or 
appreciate  that  mind,  by  reason  of  our  own  mean 
and  short'-sighted  prejudices.  Yet  we  presume  to 
think  of  measuring  the  Infinite, — of  comprehend- 
ing the  incomprehensible  mind  of  God !  We  bring 
the  Omniscient  down  to  the  bar  of  human  judg- 
ment, and  insist  upon  his  expressing  himself  ac- 
cording to  our  petty  and  varying  notions  of  pro- 
priety ! 

It  is  not,  then,  any  argument  against  a  book  said 
to  be  written  by  God,  if  it  should  contain  many 
things  above,  and  some  apparently  contrary  to,  the 
reason  of  man.  For  we  are  infinitely  less  capable 
of  judging  of  what  ought  or  ought  not  to  be  the 
mind  of  God  than  an  infant  is  to  decide  upon  the 

^  See  Isaiah  Iv.  9. 


THE  Tj:;vr  OF  TUUTii.  89 

thoughts  and  counsels  of  the  most  eminent  states- 
man or  philosopher. 

But  you  will  perhaps  reply,  that,  supposing  you 
had  written  a  book  expressly  for  the  use  of  your 
child,  you  would  have  taken  care  to  accommodate 
it  to  his  capacity;  and  that  it  is  reasonable  in  like 
manner  to  infer  that,  if  God  had  w'ritten  a  book 
expressly  for  our  use,  he  would  have  stooped  to 
the  narrowness  of  our  understandings.  I  admit 
the  justice  of  your  inference.  But  permit  me  to 
make  another  supposition.  Put  the  case  that  you 
had  written  a  book  for  your  child's  use,  and  that 
you  were  to  warn  him  beforehand  that  he  would 
find  many  things  too  difficult  for  his  unassisted 
comprehension;  which  things,  if  he  would  ask  you, 
you  would  render  2^erfectly  intelligible  to  him. 
Would  the  child  then  have  reason  to  complain 
that  the  meaning  of  the  book  was  obscure  to  him? 
Surely  not.  Now,  this  is  what  the  Bible  assures 
you  that  God  has  done.  He  has  written  a  book  for 
the  use  of  men,  which,  by  reason  of  their  imperfect 
and  incorrect  views,  they  cannot  of  themselves 
understand.  He  has  told  them  that  if  they  will 
ask  of  him  he  will  make  it  plain  and  intelligible  to 
them.  Whether  this  account  be  true  or  false  can 
only  be  ascertained  by  making  the  experiment.  It 
seems  at  least  worth  trying. 

But,  again,  we  have  two  books  besides,  which 
we  know  can  have  no  other  author  than  God, — 
the  book  of  Creation  and  the  book  of  Providence. 
Do   these   contain   nothing   difficult   to   be   under- 

8* 


90  THE   TEST    OF   TRUTH. 

stood,  nothing  that  we  cannot  easily  reconcile  with 
our  ideas  ?  Rather,  do  we  not  meet  with  obscurities 
and  apparent  contradictions  in  every  page  ? 

Is  not  the  book  of  JSTature  incomprehensible? 
How  unaccountable  to  our  ideas  that  the  burying 
of  a  dry,  diminutive  seed  should  be  followed  by  its 
resurrection  in  the  shape  of  a  lovely  flower  or  a 
stately  tree!  How  strange,  that  one  day  should 
behold  the  lifeless  caterpillar  wrapped  in  a  winding- 
sheet  of  its  own  making,  and  the  next  should  pre- 
sent it  to  us  winged  with  life  and  beauty,  the  gayest 
of  the  fluttering  creation!  There  is  not  in  the 
whole  book  of  Nature  a  single  line  that  is  legible 
to  us  from  beginning  to  end.  We  can  read  enough 
to  wonder  and  adore,  but  not  enough  to  understand. 

And  as  for  the  book  of  Providence,  are  not  its 
contents  still  more  dark  and  mysterious?  Does  it 
not  contain  ten  thousand  articles  which  to  our 
weak  judgment  appear  absolutely  inconsistent  and 
contradictory?  How  often  are  the  righteous  visited 
with  one  aflliction  after  another,  while  the  wicked 
are  not  in  trouble  as  other  men !  "  They  are  full 
of  substance,  and  leave  the  rest  of  their  treasure  to 
their  babes;"  but  the  righteous  are  poor  and  op- 
pressed. These  are  some  of  the  seeming  incon- 
gruities of  the  book  of  Providence.  They  are  by 
no  means  the  most  remarkable.  To  us  it  often  ap- 
pears a  string  of  paradoxes. 

If,  now,  a  third  book  be  ofiered  to  us,  even  the 
Bible,  professing  also  to  be  from  God,  shall  we  deny 
that  it  is  genuine  merely  because  it  is  marked  by 


THE    TEST   OF    TRUTH.  91 

the  very  same  peculiarities  of  style  which  dirftin- 
guished  the  other  works  of  the  same  Author? 
Surely  this  remarkable  coincidence  of  style  is  any 
thing  rather  than  an  objection  to  its  authenticity. 

When  you  object  to  the  Bible  on  the  ground  of 
its  being  opposed  to  your  reason,  we  have  yet  an- 
other cause  to  doubt  whether  reason  is  at  all  to  be 
relied  on  in  the  matter.  For  if  you  look  round 
upon  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  and  observe 
the  absurd,  degrading  notions  which  men  entertain 
of  the  Deity,  you  will  perceive  that  the  human 
mind  is  little  capable  of  forming  sublime  or  even 
reasonable  notions  concerning  him.  As  you  too 
profess  to  be  guided  by  unassisted  reason,  you  can 
scarcely  be  sure  that  your  ideas  of  God  may  not  be 
just  as  remote  from  the  truth  as  those  of  the  igno- 
rant savage  who  says  to  a  stone,  "Thou  art  my 
God."  You  will  tell  me  that  you  have  the  superior 
advantages  of  an  enlightened  philosoj)hy  and  a 
cultivated  intellect.  I  fear  this  argument  will  not 
stand  you  in  much  stead.  For  what  were  those 
gods  who,  in  the  opinion  of  the  enlightened  and 
cultivated  nations  of  Greece  and  Rome,  "  in  high 
Olympus  ruled  the  middle  air"?  They  were  a  set 
of  mere  men, — loose  and  unprincipled  men, — with 
rather  more  than  human  power,  and  less  than  human 
virtue.  These  enlightened  and  philosophical  nations 
conceived  "  that  God  was  altogether  such  an  one  as 
themselves."  If  your  ideas  are  more  rational  than 
theirs,  it  is  not  because  you  are  naturally  better 
informed  than  they  were,  but  because  some  of  your 


92  THE    TEST    OF   TRUTH. 

notions  have  been  refined  from  the  grossne&s  of  their 
sensuality  by  that  despised  system  of  theology,  the 
Bible.  Their  example  may  warn  you  how  little 
reason  can  avail  us  in  searching  after  the  Almighty. 
A  few  of  the  wisest  of  them  perceived  that  they 
were  wrong,  but  confessed  that  all  their  philosophy 
was  insufficient  to  find  out  what  was  right.  With 
these  the  Maker  of  the  universe,  if  not  Jupiter  or 
Saturn,  was  still  "the  unknown  God."  Yet  they 
had  the  same  reason  to  guide  them,  the  same  helps 
(unless  you  will  acknowledge  the  Bible  to  be  a 
help),  that  you  have  in  the  present  day.  Can  you 
tell  us  why  you  should  hope  to  succeed  where  they 
so  egregiously  failed?  Reason,  in  the  case  of  every 
nation  in  the  world,  has  proved  a  blind  guide :  can 
you  tell  us  how  it  comes  to  pass  that  she  should,  in 
your  individual  case,  prove  so  wonderfully  clear- 
sighted? May  not  the  ideas  of  God  which  reason 
has  taught  you  be  just  as  wide  of  the  truth  as  her 
suggestions  to  the  heathen  nations  whom  she  per- 
suaded to  "  change  the  glory  of  the  incorruptible 
God  into  an  image  made  like  unto  corruptible  man, 
and  to  birds,  and  four-footed  beasts,  and  creeping 
things"?^  And  if  you  cannot  be  sure  of  the  cor- 
rectness of  your  notions,  is  it  safe  to  reject  the 
Bible,  merely  because  it  does  not  coincide  with 
those  notions? 

Once  more :  if  you  repeat  that  you  cannot  believe 
the  Bible,  because  its  contents  appear  absurd  and 
contradictory  to  you,  we  reply,  that  this  is  no  more 
^  See  Eomans  i.  23. 


THE   TEST    OF  TRUTH.  93 

than  the  Bible  itself  has  foretold.  "  The  natural 
man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God ; 
for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him ;  neither  can  he 
know  them,  because  they  are  sj^iritually  discerned."  ^ 
Let  me  again  put  the  case  home  to  your  own  ex- 
perience. Suppose  you  had  written  a  treatise  on 
some  particular  subject,  and  had  distinctly  and  re- 
peatedly declared  that,  to  a  certain  description  of 
readers  destitute  of  a  certain  degree  of  information, 
your  book  must,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  thing, 
be  incomprehensible,  and  even  wear  an  appearance 
of  glaring  absurdity.  Would  you  not  think  your- 
self unfairly  dealt  by,  if  your  performance  were  to 
fall  into  contempt  because  those  very  persons  whom 
you  had  declared  incompetent  to  judge  were  to 
assure  the  world  that  they  had  read  it  and  found  it 
both  obscure  and  ridiculous?  But  let  ns  further 
suppose  that  you  had  not  only  forewarned  these 
people  of  the  incapacity  they  laboured  under,  but 
had  also  pointed  out  a  method  by  which  they  might 
acquire  sufficient  knowledge  to  enter  into  the  mean- 
ing of  your  work  and  to  estimate  it  at  its  real 
value.  Would  you  not  accuse  them  of  tenfold  dis- 
ingenuousness  in  decrying  your  production,  without 
giving  themselves  the  trouble  of  examining  it  by 
the  method  you  had  proposed? 

This  disingenuous,  this  unphilosophical,  proceed- 
ing is  the  very  counterpart  of  your  own  conduct 
with  regard  to  that  book,,  upon  which,  for  any  thing 
you  have  yet  proved  to  the  contrary,  your  eternal 

1  See  I  Corinthians  ii.  14. 


94  .      THE   TEST    OF   TRUTH. 

happiness  or  misery  may  depend.  The  Scriptures 
offer  themselves  to  you  as  the  word  of  God.  They 
assure  you  that  sin  has  so  blinded  and  depraved 
your  reason  that  you  are  incapable  of  affixing  a 
just  meaning,  or  a  true  value,  to  their  sacred  con- 
tents, until  that  reason  is  informed  and  enlightened 
by  the  Spirit  of  God.  They  instruct  you  how  to 
obtain  this  divine  illumination : — "Ask,  and  it  shall 
be  given  you." 

Now,  let  us  observe  your  mode  of  proceeding. 
You  set  about  judging  the  Bible  by  that  very 
faculty  which  the  Bible  has  declared  to  be  in- 
capable of  judging  correctly.  This  you  do  in  the 
face  of  the  united  testimony  of  every  age  and 
nation  to  the  utter  incapacity  of  reason  as  a  guide 
to  religion.  You  not  only  neglect,  but  absolutely 
despise,  the  offer  which  the  Bible  makes  you  of 
divine  teaching,  though  common  sense,  common 
feeling,  and  experience  concur  in  proclaiming  its 
necessity.  And  then,  v^'itli  consummate  assurance, 
you  step  forward  and  inform  the  world  that  you 
have  fairly  examined  the  Bible,  and  proved  it  to 
be  a  mere  "  cunningly-devised  fable."  Is  this  fair 
and  open?  Is  it  just  and  reasonable?  Is  it  wise 
and  judicious? 

It  appears,  then,  from  the  vast  difference  which 
must  be  supposed  to  exist  between  our  minds  and 
the  mind  of  God, — from  the  analogies  that  we  may 
gather  from  his  Creation  aijd  Providence, — from  the 
confusion  and  ignorance  of  the  whole  world  respect- 
ing him,  and   from   the   account  which   the  Bible 


THE    TEST    OF   TRUTH.  95 

gives  of  its  own  nature  and  purpose,  that  the  un- 
assisted reason  is  not  capable  of  deciding  upon  its 
truth  or  falsehood.  The  criterion  is  absolutely  un- 
fair and  inapplicable,  alike  condemned  by  common 
sense  and  common  honesty.  A  deaf  man  is  no 
very  accurate  judge  of  sounds,  nor  is  a  blind  man 
adapted  to  decide  upon  the  merits  of  a  picture. 
Even  so  is  human  reason  utterly  incapable  of  dis- 
cernin.g  the  beauty  and  glory  of  the  sacred  page, 
until  the  same  Almighty  Power  which  created  that 
reason  is  pleased  to  shine  into  and  enlighten  it. 
Now,  if  there  is  the  smallest  hope  that  so  great  a 
blessing  may  be  had  for  the  askirig,  what  madness 
and  perverseness  will  it  argue  on  our  parts  to  decline 
making  the  attempt! 

That  I  may  preclude  every  possibility  of  misap- 
prehension, let  me  add  a  very  few  words  as  to  the 
nature  of  this  asking,  or  prayer,  and  the  answer 
which  may  be  expected  to  it. 

And,  first,  as  to  the  nature  of  prayer.  I  need 
hardly  tell  you  that  it  nnist  be  sincere.  No  promise 
is  made  to  the  mere  asking  of  the  lips.  You  may 
thus  ask  wisdom  of  God,  and,  when  he  makes  you 
no  answer,  you  may  triumphantly  declare  that  the 
Scripture  promise  is  broken.  This  may  pass  current 
with  your  fellow-men.  But  it  will  neither  deceive 
yourself  nor  God.  Conscience  will  bear  Avitness  that 
you  have  not  reaihj  prayed.  The  Searcher  of  hearts 
is  insulted  by  such  lip-,petitions.  To  grant  them 
would  be  to  part  with  his  omniscience. 

Nor  is  it  enough  that  the  desire  after  knowledge 


96  THE    TEST    OF   TRUTH. 

be  sincere.  It  must  also  be  fervent.  Indeed,  it  is 
difficult  to  imagine  the  one  Avitliout  the  other.  For 
if  we  desire  a  thing  in  proportion  to  its  value,  then 
by  how  much  the  knowledge  of  God  is  better  than 
any  earthly  knowledge,  by  so'  much  ought  the  fer- 
vency with  which  we  long  for  it  to  exceed  the  fer- 
vency of  our  desires  after  any  earthly  object.  The 
soul  that  is  really  thirsting  after  her  Maker,  her 
God,  the  proper  centre  of  her  desires  and  hopes,  will 
thirst  after  him  with  a  degree  of  ardour  and  fixed- 
ness of  which  no  earthly  longing  can  convey  an 
adequate  idea.  The  hungry  man,  fainting  for  want 
of  food, — the  thirsty  traveller,  languishing  for  water, 
— these  are  but  poor  and  inexpressive  emblems  of  the 
soul  that  is  hungering  and  thirsting  after  God.  To 
desire  God  coldly,  and  other  objects  with  eagerness, 
is  such  an  inversion  of  the  right  order  of  things, 
it  is  so  immensely  to  undervalue  the  only  thing 
which  cannot  be  prized  too  highly,  that  we  can 
hardly  without  arrogance  expect  that  God  will  con- 
descend to  such  faint  desires,  or  fulfil  such  luke- 
warm petitions.  I  believe  that  the  faintest  wish,  if 
siiicere,  will  not  pass  unnoticed  by  Him  who  "  de- 
spiseth  not  the  day  of  small  things."  But  if  our 
longings  after  such  an  unspeakable  good  be  not 
intensely  excited,  we  have  every  reason  to  question 
their  sincerity.  To  desire  God  without  intenseness 
seems  more  inconsistent  than  not  to  desire  him  at 
all.  We  may  desire  a  trifle  faintly;  for  our  wish 
is  in  proportion  to  its  value.  But  to  desire  the 
living  God,  the  Original  of  all  wisdom,  excellence, 


THE    TEST    OF   TRUTH.  \)  i 

beauty,  glory,  and  felicity,  and  yet  not  to^burn  and 
throb  with  uncontrollable  longings  of  the  soul  after 
Him,  this  is  an  anomaly  which  can  only  be  met  with 
in  a  guilty  and  fallen  world,  and  it  proves  at  how 
low  a  rate  the  very  best  and  wisest  of  mankind  do 
value  God.  The  Spirit  of  God  must  both  excite 
and  satisfy  this  longing.  The  more  Ave  ask,  the  more 
we  shall  desire,  and  the  more  Ave  shall  be  satisfied. 

I  conceive,  then,  that  this  asking  implies  sincere 
and  fervent  desire.  It  is  the  asking  of  the  hearty 
and  to  such  only  is  the  promise  made.  "  TAe?i  shall 
ye  seek  me,  and  find  me,  tvhen  ye  shall  search  for  me 
with  all  your  hea^i.."  ^ 

Suffer  me  now  to  direct  your  attention  for  a 
moment  to  the  answer  which  may  be  expected  to 
such  asking  as  I  have  described.  On  this  head  I 
have  two  brief  cautions  to  offer  to  you. 

1.  You  have  a  right  to  expect  a  convineing  answer 
to  your  prayers,  but  you  have  no  reason  to  expect 
that  it  Avill  be  miraculoiis.  I  do  not  mean  to  say 
that  God  cannot,  if  he  please,  convince  you  by  a 
miracle.  This,  hoAvever,  is  not  his  ordinary  method 
of  dealing  Avith  his  creatures.  He  Avho  once  brought 
light  out  of  darkness  Avith  the  Avord,  "  Let  there  be 
light,"  noAv  sends  forth  "  the  sun  every  morning  like 
a  bridegroom  out  of  his  chamber,"  ^  and  he  gives 
light  to  all  the  Avorld  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
nature.  So  He,  Avho  caused  the  first  beams  of  the 
Sun  of  righteousness  to  shine  miraculously  upon 
mankind,  now  illuminate^ the  hearts  of  men  by  the 

^  Jer.  xxix.  13.  2  ggc  Psalm  xix.  4,  5. 

O  9 


98  THE   TEST    OF   TRUTH. 

ordinary  process  of  inward,  rational  conviction.  It 
is  fitting  that  it  should  be  so.  We  are  reasonable 
creatures,  and  our  understandings  must  be  con- 
vinced ere  our  hearts  can  be  converted.  No  out- 
ward miracle  can  effect  this,  but  only  the  inward 
miracle  of  opening  the  heart  to  attend  and  the 
mind  to  understand ;  of  dispelling  the  dark  mists  of 
ignorance,  prejudice,  and  error  that  benight  the 
soul,  and,  above  all,  of  abolishing  that  enmity  to 
God,  Avhich  is  the  secret  and  bitter  root  of  all  un- 
belief. Perhaps  what  I  am  now  saying  seems  strange 
and  mysterious  to  you.  I  will  enter  no  further  into 
the  subject.  Only  try  the  experiment  I  have  pro- 
posed to  you,  and*  you  will  understand  all  this,  and 
much  more. 

I  would,  in  the  second  place,  caution  you  not  to 
expect  an  immediate  answer  to  your  prayers.  Here, 
again,  we  may  gather  from  the  analogy  of  God's 
dealings  with  us  in  temporal  things  some  idea  of 
w^hat  we  are  to  expect  from  him  in  spiritual  tilings. 
Every  process  in  the  works  of  Nature  and  in  the 
development  of  mind  is  carried  on  by  slow  and 
sometimes  imperceptible  degrees.  We  sow  our  seed, 
but  we  must  wait  with  patience  till  His  sun  and  His 
rain  have  brought  it  to  perfection.  Yet  we  do  not 
the  less  conficlently  expect  an  abundant  crop  be- 
cause we  know  that  it  will  not  spring  up  in  a  single 
night.  Again,  in  acquiring  any  of  the  arts  and 
sciences,  how  many  tedious  processes  we  have  to 
pass  through!  Yet  we  are.not  so  foolish  as  to  throw 
them  aside  in  despair  because  we  cannot  master 
them  in  a  few  hours.    And,  reasoning  from  analogy, 


THE   TEST    OF   TRUTH.  99 

we  have  no  ground  to  expect  that  the  knowledge 
of  God  will  be  the  growth  of  an  hour,  or  that  so 
mighty  a  blessing  will  be  showered  down  at  the 
very  first  request  we  deign  to  offer.  Consider,  I  be- 
seech you,. how  long  God  has  been  waiting  upon  you 
with  this  invitation.  Wonder  not  if  he  keep  you 
waiting  for  a  time  in  your  turn.  But  this  will  be 
as  he  pleases.  I  only  mention  it  lest  any  who  have 
really  begun  to  pray  should  feel  discouraged  at  per- 
ceiving no  immediate  benefit  from  their  prayers. 
God  has  nowhere  promised  to  answer  us  so  sud- 
denly. But  he  will  not  keep  us  waiting  without 
bestowing  on  us  so  much  light  and  strength  as  will 
encourage  us  to  persevere.  "  Oh,  tarry,  then,  the 
Lord's  leisure ;  be  strong,  and  he  shall  comfort  thine 
heart;  wait,  I  say,  on  the  Lord."^ 

I  close  this  part  of  my  subject  with  the  advice  of 
the  prophet,  "  Halt  no  longer  between  two  opinions." 
If  the  Jehovah  of  the  Scriptures  be  God,  serve 
him ;  but  if  the  God  whom  Deists  have  fancied  to 
themselves  be  God,  then  serve  him.  I  have  pointed 
out  to  you  a  way  of  deciding  the  question.  Bring 
the  Scriptures  to  the  touchstone  of  truth.  "  The 
God  who  answers  prayer,  let  him  be  God."  ^ 

"Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you."  Ask  sincerely^ 
fervently,  perseveringly.  If  you  thus  ask,  and  receive 
not,  I  consent  that  you  shall  renounce  the  Bible  for- 
ever. If  you  ask,  and  receive,  then  will  the  Bible 
become  your  everlasting  heritage,  the  very  joy  and 
rejoicing  of  your  heart,  Then  will  you  bless  the 
day  that  led  you  to  the  "  Test  of  Truth." 

1  Psalm  xxvii.  14.  ^  i  Kings  xviii.  21-24. 


PART  11. 


LUKE  XI.  9. 

ASK,  AND    IT    SHALL    BE    GIVEN    YOU. 

I  CANNOT  behold  a  person  who  doubts  or  dis- 
believes the  truth  of  Christianity,  without  feeling 
drawn  towards  that  person  with  a  tender  and  pity- 
ing interest,  as  if  he  were  my  brother  or  dear  friend. 
My  heart  is  linked  to  his  by  an  irresistible  sym- 
pathy. Should  this  appear  mysterious,  I  can  easily 
explain  the  mystery.  I  have  been  in  the  same 
situation  myself.  I  "know  the  heart"  of  an  un- 
believer; his  doubts,  his  objections,  his  disgusts, 
have  all  passed  through  my  own  mind.  I  enter 
into  every  particular  of  his  feelings.  If  he  is  a 
sincere  doubter, — I  mean,  if  he  really  desires  to  find 
out  the  truth, — I  can  comprehend  all  the  agony  of 
suspense,  the  horror  of  approaching  eternity  in  the 
dark,  which  he  now  experiences,  and  which  none 
but  those  who  have  felt  can  figure  to  themselves, 
even  in  idea.  But  my  sympathy  with  such  a 
doubter  is  also  one  of  glad  anticipation.  I  enter 
into  his  future  feelings,  and  rejoice  in  the  light  and 
peace  wliich  are  certainly  prepared  for  liim,  though 
now  they  are  hid  from  his  eyes.     I  know  that  "  an 

100 


THE  TEST   OF  TRUTH.  101 

understa^diug  shall  one  day  be  given  him,  that  he 
may  know  Him  that  is  true."  "  If  any  man  wishes 
to  do  the  will  of  God,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine, 
whether  it  be  true,  or  whether  Jesus  Christ  spake 
of  himself"^  Of  this  I  am  assured,  both  because  it 
is  God's  promise,  and  because  he  has  fulfilled  that 
promise  to  me.  "  He  has  brought  me  out  of  the 
horrible"  abyss  of  doubt  and  unbelief,  "  and  set  my 
foot  upon  a  rock,  and  established  my  goings."  And 
oh  that,  while  I  endeavour  to  speak  of  his  goodness 
towards  me,  "  many  may  see  it,  and  fear,  and  put 
their  trust  in  the  Lord!"^ 

I  thank  my  God  that  I  have  been  permitted,  by 
bitter  experience,  to  enter  into  this  growing  calamity 
of  my  fellow-men.  Not  only  have  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity  been  stamped  upon  my  soul  with  a  cer- 
tainty greatly  enhanced  by  the  strict  and  suspicious 
scrutiny  to  which  they  have  every  one  been  subjected, 
but  an  intenseness  is  added  to  my  prayers,  and  a 
liveliness  to  my  hopes,  for  this  class  of  wanderers 
from  God,  which  nothing  but  a  fellowship  in  sin  and 
suffering  could  have  produced.  I  can  spread  their 
miserable  case  before  the  Lord  with  the  happy  con- 
viction that  the  same  power  which  was  displayed  on 
my  behalf  is  ready  to  be  stretched  out  on  theirs.  And 
when  unbelief  whispers,  Can  these  men  be  brought 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth?  my  very  soul  burns 
within  me,  as  I  appeal  to  my  own  experience,  that 
nothing  is  too  hard  for  the  Lord.  May  the  Lord  my 
God  guide  my  heart  and  my  pen,  whilst  I  attempt 

i  John  vii.  17.  2  See  Psalm  xl.  1-3. 

9* 


102  THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

to  delineate  the  process  by  which  "  he  called  me 
out  of  darkness  into  his  marvellous  light!" 

My  chief  aim  is  to  demonstrate  the  success  which 
will  invariably  follow  a  sincere  and  candid  appli- 
cation of  the  "  Test  of  Truth."  If  I  can  persuade 
others  to  try  the  same  method,  I  shall  have  gained 
my  point.  I  seek  not  to  answer  objections.  They 
are  innumerable  as  the  turnings  and  windings  of  the 
human  heart.  Even  with  those  who  are  sincere  in 
their  search  after  truth,  the  most  trivial  of  these 
objections,  though  confuted  again  and  again,  will 
present  itself  with  renewed  difficulty.  The  source 
of  doubts  and  objections  must  be  dried  up.  The 
"  evil  heart  of  unbelief"  must  be  removed.  Pie  who 
will  make  trial  of  the  "  Test  of  Truth"  shall  have 
a  ready  answer  to  all  objections.  He  shall  know 
by  his  own  experience  that  every  word  of  the  Bible 
•is  true. 

To  you,  doubters  and  unbelievers  of  every  de- 
scription, I  address  myself  Many  of  you  will 
esteem  me  a  fool  for  my  pains.  I  am  content  that 
you  should  think  thus  of  me,  so  long  as  the  wisdom 
of  God  is  foolishness  in  your  eyes.  But  my  God 
often  "  chooses  the  foolish  things  of  this  world  to 
confound  the  wise."  This  emboldens  me  to  hope 
that,  if  you  will  give  me  a  candid  and  patient  hear- 
ing, I  may,  with  his  blessing,  be  able  to  suggest 
some  reflections  which  may  prove  useful  to  you. 
As  God  has  opened  my  understanding,  so  I  be- 
lieve that  he  is  able  and  willing  to  open  yours.  If 
once  he  shine  into  your  dark  hearts,  how  will  un- 


TUE   TEST    OF   TRUTH.  103 

belief  uikJ  pride  and  prejudice  give  way  before  the 
brightness  of  his  presence!  How  joyfully  will  you 
submit  to  those  deep  counsels  of  God  which  you 
now  cast  from  you  with  scorn !  I  did  not  learn  them 
of  myself;  neither  can  you.  "Flesh  and  blood 
cannot  reveal  them  unto  you ;"  but  my  Father  and 
your  Father,  which  Ls  in  heaven,  both  can  and  will, 
if  you  desire  it  of  him.  I  look  with  confidence  on 
your  behalf  to  Him  whose  office  it  is  to  "  lead  the 
blind  by  a  way  that  they  knew  not;  to  make  darkness 
light  before  them,  and  crooked  paths  straight."^ 

From  a  very  early  age  my  mind  had  been  deeply 
impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  importance  of  religion. 
I  knew  something  not  only  of  the  form,  but  of  the 
spirit,  of  prayer.  With  a  very  indistinct  view  of 
many  of  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  I  was  yet 
enabled  to  walk  with  God  in  sincerity,  and  without 
any  considerable  declension,  during  the  greater  part 
of  my  childhood,  and  the  commencement  of  a  riper 
age. 

Nor  can  I  now  speak  decidedly  as  to  the  time  or 
manner  in  which  a  kind  of  careless  stupidity  about 
every  thing  connected  with  religion  began  to  steal 
over  my  soul.  When  this  first  Ijecame  perceptible, 
it  occasioned  me  great  uneasiness.  But  I  soon  forgot 
it  in  the  studies  and  vanities  incident  to  my  age. 
Ere  long,  I  had  learned  to  live  "  without  God  in  the 
world,"  to  shut  him  out  of  all  my  thoughts.  Pride 
and  self-love,  which  had,  I  doubt  not,  long  been 
secretly  undermining  the  vitality  of  my  religion, 
1  Isaiah  xlii,  16. 


104  THE   TEST   OF   TRUTH. 

now  became  the  motives — the  aHoweci  and  cherished 
motives — of  all  my  actions.  My  former  feelings 
were  at  first  remembered  as  an  indistinct  dream, 
then  wiped  as  with  a  sponge  from  my  memory.  It 
may  appear  strange  that  one  who  had  ever  tasted 
the  power  of  religion  could  so  soon  cast  off  its  in- 
fluence; for  all  this  was  eifectedin  the  space  of  a 
few  months.  It  is  strange;  and  it  affords  a  proof 
of  the  strange  depravity  of  the  human  heart  when 
left  to  its  own  workings.  Yet,  as  this  book  may 
come  under  the  eye  of  some  who  have  fallen  in  the 
same  manner,  I  will,  for  their  sakes,  endeavour 
briefly  to  trace  the  origin  of  my  declension.  Similar 
causes  may  have  operated  in  producing  theirs. 

I  think  that  I  had  no  sufficient  view  of  the  nature 
and  universality  of  sin.  The  sin  of  particular  ac- 
tions and  thoughts  would  often  affect  me  very 
deeply.  But  I  had  little  idea  of  the  general  sinful- 
ness of  my  nature  and  of  my  own  utter  helplessness, 
or  at  least  that  idea  had  for  some  time  been  grow- 
ing very  indistinct.  In  consequence,  I  set  my  guard, 
as  it  were,  against  this  or  that  particular  sin,  instead 
of  taking  the  whole  body  of  sin  to  God  to  be  sub- 
dued and  destroyed.  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that 
other  young  persons  besides  myself  have  derived 
injury  from  some  parts  of  a  work  which  has,  on  the 
whole,  been  eminently  useful :  I  mean  Doddridge's 
"Rise  and  Progress  of  Religion  in  the  Soul."  I 
had  read  in  that  work,  long  before  the  period  of 
my  thorough  declension,  an  earnest  recommenda- 
tion to  the  young  convert  to  enter  into  a  solemn 


THE   TEST   OF   TRUTH.  105 

covenant  -svith  God  by  a  written  form  or  dedication. 
I  drew  up  an  instrument  of  this  kind,  and  fancied 
I  had  bound  myself  to  God's  service  in  such  a  way 
that  I  could  now  never  forsake  him.  But  when  I 
found  myself  daily  coming  short  of  the  resolutions 
I  had  made,  I  began  to  be  filled  with  a  kind  of 
slavish  dread  of  God ;  I  could  no  longer  come  before 
him  as  his  child.  I  felt  as  if  I  had,  by  breaking 
my  OAvn  voluntary  covenant,  dissolved  or  weakened 
the  bond  which  united  me  to  him.  Again  and  again 
I  sought  his  presence,  and  with  tears  renewed  my 
engagements ;  but  every  renewal  of  this  formal  dedi- 
cation was  made  under  circumstances  of  fresh  dis- 
couragement, and  with  diminished  confidence  in 
the  strength  of  Christ  to  carry  me  through  the  per- 
formance of  it.  Thus  I  gradually  declined  from 
the  law  of  liberty  into  the  spirit  of  bondage  and 
fear.  I  believe  that  these  ineffectual  struggles 
paved  the  way  for  my  apparently  sudden  and  un- 
accountable dereliction.  Whenever  self-dependence 
creeps  in,  there  is  reason  to  expect  that  we  shall  be 
left  to  discover  that  self  is  a  broken  reed,  which 
can  but  pierce  and  betray  the  hand  that  trusts  to  it 
for  support. 

But  I  purposely  hasten  over  this  period,  the  men- 
tion of  which  was  necessary  to  throw  some  light 
over  the  future  part  of  my  narrative.  The  state 
of  things  I  have  described  could  not  last  long.  I 
became  dissatisfied  with  the  pleasures  and  pursuits 
in  which  I  had  promised  myself  so  much  gratifica- 
tion, and  began  again  to  wish  to  turn  to  religion 


106  THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

for  comfort.  But,  alas!  I  had  no  longer  a  religion. 
I  had  refused  to  give  glory  unto  the  Lord  my  God ; 
now  "  my  feet"  were  left  to  "  stumble  upon  the  dark 
mountains."  I  had  forsaken  the  Rock  of  my  strength. 
I  was  now  to  try  the  firmness  of  my  own  sandy 
foundation. 

The  doctrine  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  had  before 
been  occasionally  a  source  of  doubt  and  perplexity 
to  me.  It  now  became  odious  to  my  proud  heart 
and  utterly  shocking  to  my  carnal  reason.  To 
satisfy  myself  on  this  point,  I  examined  the  Bible 
again  and  again.  The  result  was  an  entire  con- 
viction, that,  if  there  were  any  truth  in  the  Bible, 
Jesus  Christ  was  the  self-existent  Jehovah.  But  so 
great  was  the  difficulty  I  had  in  consenting  to  this 
doctrine,  that  I  immediately  began  to  doubt  whether 
there  were  any  truth  in  the  Bible.  I  suspected  that 
a  system  of  religion  which  involved  such  apparent 
absurdities  could  not  possibly  come  from  God.  De- 
termined to  sift  the  matter  to  the  utmost,  I  eagerly 
acquainted  myself  with  the  arguments  for  and 
against  Christianity.  My  understanding  was  con- 
vinced that  the  Scriptures  were  divine.  But  my 
heart  refused  to  receive  the  conviction.  I  was  un- 
willing  to  believe.  The  more  my  reason  was  com- 
pelled to  assent  to  their  truths,  the  more  I  secretly 
disliked  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible. 

At  length  I  resolved  for  the  present  to  lay  aside 
the  subject  altogether.  I  persuaded  myself  that 
there  must  be  many  flaws  in  the  evidence  for  so 
strange  a  history,  and  that,-  if  I  had  not  as  yet  pene- 


THE    TEST    OF  TRUTH.  107 

tration  to  discover  those  flaws,  it  was  only  on  ac- 
count of  my  youth  and  the  immaturity  of  my  rea- 
soning powers.  It  may  be  thought  that  my  former 
religious  sentiments  would  leave  behind  them  a 
relish  and  inclination  for  the  tenets  of  Christianity. 
On  the  contrary,  they  seem  to  form  a  great,  an  in- 
superable obstacle.  •  It  is  evident,  thought  I,  that  I 
have  hitherto  been  living  under  the  unresisted  do- 
minion of  prejudice.  These  opinions  were  imbibed 
before  I  could  possibly  form  any  judgment  upon 
their  truth  or  falsehood.  I  have  ever  since  blindly 
submitted  to  their  guidance,  endeavouring  to  feel  or 
to  fancy  all  that  the  advocates  of  enthusiasm  told 
me  I  ought  to  feel.  I  must  guard  against  this  bias 
which  my  early  associations  have  induced.  From 
the  very  same  cause  I  should  probably  in  another 
country  have  stood  forth  the  zealous  worshipper  of 
Brahma  or  the  furious  disciple  of  Mohammed.  Thus 
I  reason  with  myself.  Alas!  I  knew  not  then  that 
the  secret,  yet  determined,  bias  of  my  heart  was 
against  Christianity.  I  had  forgotten  that  "  the 
carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God.". 

I  looked  then  upon  my  former  devotion  as  the 
dream  of  an  idle  superstition.  This  circumstance 
was  perpetually  recurring  to  my  memory,  and  re- 
doubled my  suspicions  of  the  creed  in  which  I  had 
been  brought  up;  so  that,  humanly  speaking,  there 
was  no  system  of  religion  which  had  so  little  hope 
of  a  candid  examination  from  me  as  the  Bible.  I 
will  not  at  least  be  the  slave  of  prejudice.  I  will 
not  wear  these  trammels  merely  because  they  were 


108  THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

imposed  upon  me  in  my  childhood.     I  will  think 
and  examine  for  myself. 

The  following  considerations  constrained  me  from 
communicating  my  perplexity  to  a  single  beiug. 
In  the  first  place,  I  thought  that  to  whomsoever  I 
might  open  my  mind  on  the  subject,  they  would  not 
fail  to  endeavour  to  bias  me  one  way  or  the  other. 
In  the  next,  as  I  was  not  quite  sure  that  the  Scrip- 
tures were  false,  I  feared  to  be  the  means  of  raising 
or  confirming  doubts  in  the  mind  of  any  other 
person,  lest  I  should  ultimately  discover  that  I  had 
been  fighting  against  God.  I  therefore  resolved  to 
keep  my  own  counsel;  to  exhibit,  for  the  present, 
no  outward  difference  of  conduct,  only  avoiding,  as 
much  as  possible,  the  discussion  of  religious  subjects. 
In  the  mean  time,  I  determined  to  devote  myself  to 
those  studies  which  tend  most  eminently  to  invigor- 
ate the  reasoning  faculties  and  give  to  the  mind 
a  habit  of  sound  thinking  and  correct  judgment. 
Thus  I  hoped  some  future  day  to  renew  the  ex- 
amination, take  a  clearer  view  of  things,  and  ef- 
fectually guard  against  being  made  the  dupe  of  a 
"  cunningly-devised  fable."  Vain  and  presumptuous 
fool!  I  had  yet  to  learn  that  "the  wisdom  of  this 
world  is  foolishness  with  God,"  and  that  man  can- 
not, by  "  his  own  unassisted  searching,  find  out  the 
Almighty  to  perfection."^  Yet  even  in  this  cir- 
cumstance I  would  gratefully  recognize  the  wisdom 
and  the  goodness  that  have  followed  me  all  my  life 
long ;  for  though  my  studies  were  now  but  an  addi- 
1  See  1  Cor.  iii.  19;  Job  xi.  7. 


THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH.  109 

tional  snare  to  me,  yet  they  afterwards,  under  God's 
blessing,  were  of  considerable  use  to  me  in  my  re- 
searches after  truth,  or,  rather,  in  enabling  me  to 
detect  the  fallacies  which  had  misled  me.  But  at 
present  I  was  trusting  in  them;  and  how  could  they 
be  otherwise  than  a  curse  to  me? 

These  abstruse  pursuits  had  an  effect  on  my  mind 
which  I  had  not  anticipated,  but  which  at  the  time 
occasioned  me  little  regret.  I  began  to  delight  in 
them  so  much  for  their  own  sake  that  they  with- 
drew my  mind  altogether  from  the  grand  subject 
of  my  inquiry.  Instead  of  using  them  as  a  pre- 
parative for  future  examination,  I  fled  to  them  as 
a  refuge  from  the  busy  speculations  which  had  so 
long  tormented  me.  I  buried  thought  in  them  as 
the  drunkard  buries  it  in  his  cups:  not  that  I 
could  at  all  times  shut  out  serious  reflection.  These 
fits  of  mental  intoxication  had  their  intervals,  and 
bitter  intervals  they  were.  But  I  pacified  con- 
science with  the  plea  that  I  was  only  laying  aside 
present  inquiry  to  resume  it  under  more  favourable 
circumstances.  When  I  should  deem  myself  fit  for 
the  momentous  scrutiny  was  a  point  reserved  for 
decision  at  some  indefinite  period.  On  one  or  two 
occasions  I  experienced  a  return  of  religious  feel- 
ing, and  felt  inclined  to  submit,  though  ^\lih  the 
temper  of  a  slave  rather  than  of  a  child,  to  the 
yoke  of  the  gospel.  But  at  these  times  a  tem- 
porary dread  of  consequences,  or  that  undefinable 
softness  of  mind  which  affliction  induces,  operated 
much  more  than  any  heartfelt  conviction  of  the 

10 


110  THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

truth.  I  sought  to  appease  conscience  by  doing 
many  things.  I  was  busy,  but  not  devotional,  and 
my  fit  of  ill-judged  zeal  soon  eva^Dorated. 

With  the  exception  of  these  transient  inter- 
ruptions, I  continued  this  course  for  many  months  ; 
but  at  length  God  in  mercy  arrested  my  downward 
progress,  and  the  reflections  of  a  few  hours  produced 
a  total  revolution  in  my  views  and  desires,  though  I 
was  yet  to  wait  a  long  time  ere  I  arrived  at  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth.  I  had  been  looking  out  on 
the  starry  heavens,  and  from  the  consideration  of 
these  wondrous  luminaries  was  naturally  led  to  re- 
flect on  the  immense  stretch  of  intellect  by  which 
man  has  been  enabled  to  make  them  the  objects  of 
his  knowledge, — to  measure  the  distances,  the  orbits, 
the  circumferences,  of  the  planets, — to  trace  the 
eccentric  path  of  the  comet  and  foretell  the  period 
of  its  return.  In  an  instant — with  the  rapidity,  but 
not  with  the  transientness,  of  the  lightning's  flash — 
the  thought  broke  in  upon  me,  "  What  signifies  the 
knoivledge  of  all  these  things,  so  long  as  man  hioivs 
not  God  who  made  himf^ 

I  had  never  sunk  so  low  in  the  scale  of  being  as 
to  entertain  a  suspicion  that  I  could  exist  without 
some  great  Intelligent  Cause  of  my  existence;  and 
yet  the  conviction  that  there  was  a  God  now  seemed 
to  flash  upon  me  for  the  first  time.  It  was  as 
though  I  had  gotten  a  new  idea,  and  a  new  sense  to 
perceive  it  by;  and  this  idea  was  so  tremendously 
awful  and  important  that  it  wellnigh  overwhelmed 
me.     The  amazing  folly  and  brutish  stupidity  of 


THE   TEST    OF   TRUTH.  Ill 

mankind,  and  of*  myself  in  particular,  in  taking 
pains  to  acquaint  ourselves  with  the  works  of  God, 
and  yet  crawling  on  in  contented  ignorance  of  God 
himself,  appeared  so  utterly  shocking  to  common 
sense  and  common  decency,  that  I  could  scarcely 
believe  my  own  existence  in  such  a  world,  and 
amongst  such  a  race  of  fellow-madmen,  to  be  any 
thing  more  than  a  frightful  dream.  At  first,  I 
could  only  behold  the  folly,  narrowness,  and  mean- 
ness of  my  conduct.  To  have  loved  and  sought 
what  is  beautiful  in  the  creature,  and  yet  not  to 
have  cared  to  be  acquainted  with  the  Original,  the 
Fountain-head  of  beauty, — the  Mind,  from  whence 
every  form  of  loveliness  emanated,  and  which  must 
itself  be  the  perfection  of  beauty ;  to  have  admired 
the  grand  and  sublime,  without  casting  a  thought 
upon  Him  whose  mind  is  the  birthplace  of  sublimity 
and  grandeur ;  to  have  dwelt  with  raj^ture  on  the  wis- 
dom of  my  fellow-creatures,  without  seeking  to  know 
Him  who  gave  them  this  general  wisdom,  as  a  little 
drop  out  of  the  infinite  ocean ;  to  have  examined 
and  pored  upon  the  workings  of  my  own  intellect, 
without  inquiring  after  the  Father  of  intellects, — 
"  the  God  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh," — and  to  have 
admired  the  exquisite  formation  of  the  body,  with- 
out asking  by  Whom  it  was  "  so  fearfully  and  won- 
derfully made ;"  to  have  forgotten  the  Giver  in  his 
gifts, — the  Creator  in  a  minute  portion  of  his  works ; 
to  have  embraced  the  shadow,  and  rejected  the  sub- 
stance,— idolized  the  copy,  and  despised  the  original, 
— provided  for  time,  and  neglected  eternity !    Could 


112  THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

a  creature  so  grovelling,  so  alive  to  all  tliat  is  petty 
and  mean,  and  so  wrapped  in  a  dull  and  senseless 
indifference  to  all  that  is  great  and  worthy, — could 
this  creature  be  styled  a  rational,  a  thinking  being? 
And  was  this  man,  in  whose  exalted  intelligence  I 
had  but  now  been  glorying?  Oh,  far  more  gross 
than  the  brutes  which  perish !  For  the  "  very  ox 
knoweth  his  owner,  and  the  ass  his  master's  crib;" 
but  man  hath  an  owner,  a  master,  a  Creator, — and 
he  knows  nothing  about  him,  and  he  is  content  to 
know  nothing  about  him !  If  the  works  of  creation 
be  so  beautiful  and  glorious,  how  surpassing  in 
beauty  and  glory  must  be  the  God  of  creation! 
The  mind  which  created  my  mind,  and  myriads  of 
other  minds, — and  which,  still  unexhausted,  is  ready 
to  produce  myriads  more, — is  this  mind  worth  know- 
ing? or  is  it  not  worth  knowing?  or,  rather,  who  but 
an  idiot  would  care  greatly  abt)ut  knowing  any 
thing  else?  How  low,  how  impertinent,  how  wide 
of  the  purposes,  are  the  pretended  dissertations  of 
men  upon  truth  and  wisdom  and  knowledge!  Why 
do  they  not  seek  truth  and  wisdom  and  knowledge 
in  Him  in  whom  they  all  centre?  Why  seek  them 
in  the  little  streamlets  of  the  world,  when  they 
might  go  to  the  Ocean,  the  Fountain,  the  Original? 
Do  men  knoiv  that  there  is  a  God?  Have  they  the 
slightest  suspicion  of  the  fact?  Can  they  know,  and 
not  care?  Can  they  suspect,  and  not  lay  all  things 
aside  till  they  have  ascertained?  Can  they  think  or 
talk  of  any  thing  else  so  long  as  this  point  remains 
undecided? 


THi:   TEST    OF  TRUTH.  113 

But  what  have  I  myself  beeu  about  all  this  time? 
How  is  it  that  I  am  but  now  beginning  to  ask, 
"Where  is  God  my  Maker?"  I  feel  my  want  of 
God  as  though  it  were  a  new  thing,  as  though  I 
might  not  have  known  all  along'that  this  was  the 
great,  the  only,  want  of  a  rational  creature.  It 
seems  as  if  a  thick  mist  had  passed  from  before  my 
eyes;  as  if,  after  a  long  and  dreadful  madness,  I 
were  just  restored  to  sanity.  And  surely  it  must  be 
thus.  I  have  been  labouring  under  a  madness,  a 
delusion;  now  I  am  awakened  to  a  perception  of 
the  object  of  my  existence.  God  is  the  object  of 
my  existence.  There  is  nothing  worth  knowing, 
there  is  nothing  worth  caring  for,  but  God.  Oh 
that  I  knew  how  to  find  out  God ! 

But  while  I  'was  thus  looking  back  with  amaze- 
ment at  the  folly  of  my  conduct,  another  and  a 
more  appalling  reflection  came  to  deepen  my  per- 
plexity. This  was  the  ivickedness  of  my  conduct. 
My  unnatural  and  monstrous  ingratitude  stared  me 
in  the  face.  If  there  be  a  God,  then  to  endeavour 
to  know  and  love  and  obey  him  must  be  not  only 
the  happiness,  but  the  indispensable  duty,  of  his 
creature.  The  ties  of  blood,  the  dearest  relations 
and  amities  of  life,  must  be  a  mere  cobweb  thread 
compared  with  the  ties  which  ought  to  bind  the  soul 
formed  to  Him  wdio  formed  it, — the  relationship 
which  must  be  naturally  supposed  to  exist  between 
the  created  and  the  creating  Spirit.  Have  I  not 
done  my  utmost  to  sever  those  ties?  Have  I  loved 
God?    Alas!  how  could  I  love  an  unknown  being? 


114  THE   TEST   OF   TRUTH. 

But  have  I  tried  to  know  him?  AVhat  were  my 
former  endeavours?  Let  me  not  mock  God  by 
calling  them  endeavours.  They  deserve  not  to  be 
once  named  as  the  act  of  a  soul  aspiring  after  its 
God.  My  life  should  have  been  one  continued  act 
of  obedience  and  thankfulness ;  but  I  have  scarcely 
thought  of  inquiring  into  his  commands,  or  of  re- 
flecting upon  his  mercies.  The  true  object  and 
motive  and  centre  of  my  soul  must  certainly  be  the 
love  of  my  Creator.  But  I  have,  in  some  way  or 
other,  lost  sight  of  this,  and  found  out  for  myself 
an  object,  a  motive,  a  centre,  altogether  sordid  and 
abominable,  and  this  is  no  other  than  the  love  of 
self  If  I  have  never  broken  out  into  any  open 
wickedness,  if  I  have  kept  up  a  tolerably  correct 
and  amiable  appearance  to  my  friends,  it  has  been 
solely  owing  (at  least  for  many  months  past)  to  a 
sense  of  shame,  or  an  inordinate  self-esteem.  This 
taught  me  to  put  on  a  fair  and  decent  outside ;  but 
within  all  was  hollowness.  The  inward  abomina- 
tions of  my  heart  have  been  indulged  without  a 
scruple.  I  have  drunk  up  /learMniquity  like  water. 
If  I  have  hitherto  escaped  the  reproaches  of  an 
accusing  conscience,  it  has  been  because  this  same 
principle  of  self,  while  it  rendered  me  exceedingly 
sharp-sighted  to  the  defects  of  others,  blinded  me  to 
my  own. 

I  now  clearly  perceived  two  things :  that  sin  was 
the  cause  of  all  the  misery  in  the  world;  and  that 
the  essence  of  sin,  however  different  in  kind  or 
degree,  was  the  same,  and  consisted  in  .a  general 


THE   TEST   OF   TRUTH.  115 

habit  of  averseness  or  alienation  from  the  great 
Author  of  our  being.  Moreover,  I  saw  that  this 
sin  pervaded  every  particle  of  our  natures  and 
every  moment  of  our  lives.  The  mere  moralist 
appeared  to  me  the  most  daring  sinner,  the  most 
senseless  inverter  of  things.  For  he  presumes  to 
boast  of  his  performance  of  the  little  duties  of  life, 
■while  the  great  duty,  the  one  duty,  is  left  out  of  the 
account.  How  ridiculous  to  imagine  that  we  can 
be  good  parents,  children,  subjects,  when  we  are  not 
good  creatures!  This  is  to  suppose  that  a  watch 
will  go  well  when  the  main-spring  is  broken,  or  a 
stream  flow  when  its  source  is  dried  up.  Now  the 
sins  of  my  life  seemed  to  pass  in  review  before  me. 
I  perceived  that  their  peculiar  malignity  consisted 
in  this,  that  they  proceeded  from  a  soul  regardless 
of  its  Maker.  Let  what  would  be  the  action,  enmity 
to  God  was  the  sin  of  it.  My  acts  of  unkindness 
and  neglect  to  my  fellow-men  struck  me  as  so  many 
demonstrations  of  despite  or  indifference  to  Him 
who  gave  them  being.  It  was  not  as  they  were  my 
fellow-creatures,  but  as  they  were  His  creatures,  that 
I  was  bound  to  love  them  and  bear  with  them  and 
do  them  good.  Had  I  loved  the  Creator,  my  love 
to  his  creatures  would  have  been  a  matter  of  course. 
"Against  thee,  thee  only,  have  I  sinned!"^  Against 
thee,  my  Maker,  my  Preserver,  my  benevolent  Friend, 
my  tender  Father!  Thou  hast  made  me,  and  clothed 
me,  and  fed  me,  and  given  me  a  heart  to  love,  a  soul 
to  think,  and  a  mind  to  understand ;  but  I  have  not 
I  Psalm  li.  4. 


116  THE   TEST    OF   TRUTH. 

loved  tliee,  nor  thought  of  thee,  nor  known  thee! 
What  wonder  if  the  malignity  that  was  rankling 
in  my  heart  towards  thee  should  sometimes  break 
out  towards  thine  offspring?  for  I  now  clearly  per- 
ceive that  I  could  never  have  disliked  any  thing  of 
thine  had  I  not  had  a  secret  dislike  to  thee.  Of 
what  good  has  my  existence  been  to  the  world? 
None, — absolutely  none.  What  has  been  the  end 
of  my  actions?  To  gratify  self.  Have  I  secured 
this  end,  paltry  and  miserable  as  I  now  perceive  it 
to  be?  No,  certainly;  my  experience  up  to  this 
moment  wrings  from  me  the  bitter  acknowledgment 
that  I  have  succeeded  only  in  making  myself  mise- 
rable. What,  then,  is  the  reason  of  my  failure  in 
the  search  after  happiness?  What  can  it  be  but 
this,  that  God,  the  essence  and  source  of  happiness, 
has  been  left  out  of  my  system?  God  alone  is  suffi- 
cient to  fill  and  satisfy  the  soul  which  he  has  made ; 
and  I  am  destitute  and  empty  of  God. 

But,  judging  of  this  great  Being  by  the  indi- 
cations and  glimmerings  of  the  reason  which  he 
has  lighted  up  within  me,  is  it  possible  for  a  mo- 
ment to  entertain  the  thought  that  he  can  behold 
with  complacency  a  creature  like  myself?  Beason' 
teaches  me  that  he  is  just:  otherwise,  how  could  he 
govern  the  world  which  his  consummate  wisdom 
has  created?  If  he  be  just,  shall  he  not  punish  one 
who  has  lived  in  the  neglect  of  the  most  obvious 
and  indispensable  obligations  to  him?  My  igno- 
rance of  him  is  no  excuse ;  for  conscience  witnesses 
that   it  has    been   in  some    measure   a  contented 


THE   TEST   OF   TRUTH.  117 

I  have  not  taken  half  the  pains  to 
know  God  that  I  have  taken  to  know  objects  of 
trifling  importance.  My  utmost  efforts  and  desires 
have  been  so  utterly  incommensurate,  I  will  not 
say,  with  the  worthiness  of  the  object  (for  that  is 
past  my  conception),  but  even  with  the  faint  and 
imperfect  ideas  which  I  might  have  formed  of  its 
worthiness,  that  to  plead  them  in  excuse  would  be 
the  highest  aggravation  of  my  crime.  If,  then, 
justice  be  one  of  God's  attributes,  that  attribute 
must  be  engaged  to  punish  any  unnatural  and  par- 
ricidal attempt  to  banish  him  from  his  own  crea- 
tion,— to  depose  him  from  his  natural  supremacy 
over  my  heart.  Nor  can  I  hope  to  escape  with  a 
slight  punishment.  Justice  consists,  not  only  in 
awarding  retribution,  but  in  suiting  it  to  the  nature 
and  degree  of  the  offence.  Mine  is  an  infinite  offence, 
committed  against  an  infinite  Being,  to  whom  I  was 
bound  by  infinite  obligations.  Shall  not  the  retri- 
bution be  infinite? 

Besides,  I  have  only  to  open  my  eyes,  and  look 
on  what  passes  before  them  every  day,  to  behold 
manifest  tokens  of  the  indignation  of  God  against 
a  "world  that  lieth  in  wickedness."  Has  he  not 
hidden  himself  from  our  knowledge?  Are  we  not 
all  abandoned  to  a  sort  of  natural  blindness  and 
ignorance  of  all  that  pertains  to  him,  and  can  there 
be  a  more  decisive  indication  of  his  displeasure? 
This  earth, — who  can  help  perceiving  that  it  lies 
under  circumstances  of  banishment  and  alienation 
from  its  Creator?    Would  God  form  beings  capable 


118  THE   TEST   OF    TRUTH. 

of  knowing  him,  and  tlien  leave  tliem  in  ignorance 
of  him,  unless  they  had  in  some  way  or  other  for- 
feited his  favour?  Do  not  the  vai'ious  contra- 
dictory religions  with  which  the  world  is  filled, 
prove  it  to  be  in  a  state  of  the  grossest  ignorance 
and  uncertainty  about  God?  What  are  all  the  in- 
firmities and  diseases  which  attack  mankind  but  a 
proof  that  sin,  besides  having  ruined  and  debased 
the  soul,  has  deranged  and  withered  the  body? 
What  are  all  the  fierce  altercations  and  demoniac 
passions  which  desolate  the  earth,  and  make  it  like 
hell,  but  a  manifestation  of  the  most  just  vengeance 
of  God,  which  has  left  us  to  w  reak  our  quarrel  with 
him  upon  one  another,  so  that  one-half  of  the 
human  race  seems  to  be  made  for  the  scourge  and 
executioners  of  the  other  half?  What  shall  we 
say  of  death  itself,  but  that  it  demonstrates  our 
whole  substance  to  be  so  contaminated,  that  it  must 
be  taken  to  pieces,-  and  built  up  afresh,  before  it 
can  be  purged  from  the  deadly  contagion?  Add  to 
this,  that  the  ordinary  commerce  and  discourse  of 
men  pYO\e  them  to  have  an  internal  consciousness 
that  all  is  not  right  between  God  and  their  souls. 
When  a  hypocrite  would  invest  himself  with  the 
semblance  of  religion,  does  it  ever  occur  to  him  to 
put  on  an  air  of  cheerfulness  and  hilarity?  Does 
not  the  very  inflection  of  his  voice  become  whining 
and  dolorous,  as  if  that  were  the  only  tone  suited  to 
the  occasion?  Whence  is  this,  but  to  accommodate 
himself  to  the  general  idea  which  m«n  have  of  re- 
ligion,  tliat   it  is  a   burdensome   and   melancholy 


THE    TEST    OF   TRUTH.  119 

thing  ?  To  what  caucje  shall  we  attribute  the  almost 
universal  prevalence  of  sacrifices  in  the  heathen 
world?  Whence  could  men  derive  the  idea  of  pro- 
pitiating God's  favour  by  the  slaughter  of  an  inno- 
cent animal?  Does  not  this  custom  imply  the  idea 
of  an  ofiended  God?  Does  it  not  originate  in  a 
hidden  sense  of  sin, — in  those  secret  gnawings  of 
conscience  which  exist  in  the  breast  of  every  human 
being,  and  which  lead  them  to  think  of  God  as  an 
angry  God?  as  One  whom  it  is  necessary,  by  some 
means,  to  reconcile  and  appease? 

But  we  may  find  ample  proof  of  this  fact  without 
going  out  of  Christian  countries,  or  even  out  of  the 
limited  circle  of  our  own  friends.  What  occasions 
the  prevalent  idea  that  religion  is  a  melancholy 
thing, — incompatible  with  youth  and  good  spirits, — 
a  subject  of  too  gloomy  a  cast  to  be  admitted  into 
general  conversation  ?  Who  has  not  witnessed  the 
dead  silence,  the  air  of  uneasiness  and  constraint, 
which  the  introduction  of  a  serious  reflection  will 
sometimes  spread  over  a  whole  company?  What  a 
woeful  interruption  to  their  hilarity!  Politeness 
itself  will  scarcely  restrain  a  contemptuous  smile, 
or  a  bitter  sarcasm,  at  the  expense  of  the  meddler 
who  ventured  to  obtrude  the  ofiensive  and  ill-timed 
observation.  He  is  directly  marked  as  not  one  of 
them;  and  should  he  again  attempt  to  introduce  the 
subject  he  will  be  regarded,  in  every  festive  society, 
as  an  interloper.  But,  if  we  were  satisfied  that 
there  was  jjeace  between  us  and  God,  the  mention  of 
religion  could  never  be  ofifensive  or  ill-timed,  because 


120  THE   TEST    OF  TRUTH. 

religion  would  then  be  nothing  but  the  continual 
expression  of  mirth  and  gladness, — the  chosen  and 
ever-pleasing  topic  of  our  most  joyous  moments. 

I  have  thrown  my  reflections  into  this  brief  order, 
without  attempting  to  follow  them  out  exactly  as 
they  occurred  to  me;  which,  at  this  distance  of  time, 
would  be  impossible.  They  darted  in  upon  my 
mind — first  one,  and  then  another,  and  sometimes 
many  of  them  together,  with  a  rapidity  and  force 
which  has  made  me  since  wonder  that  I  retained 
the  perfect  possession  of  my  senses ;  and  yet  with  so 
much  clearness,  that  the  substance  of  them  is  now 
impressed  on  my  memory  with  the  distinctness  of 
facts,  rather  than  of  thoughts.  Nor  can  I  say 
whether  this  train  of  thought  was  the  work  of  one 
night ;  for  the  same  reflections  pursued  me  with  little 
alteration  for  many  days.  These  then,  with  many 
considerations  of  a  similar  nature,  which  I  cannot 
now  so  distinctly  recollect,  but  particularly  the  con- 
tinual sense  of  my  own  gross  ignorance  and  enor- 
mous corruption,  filled  me  with  the  deepest  distress, 
and  compelled  me  to  feel,  to  my  great  discomfort, 
that  there  was  a  separation — a  quarrel  between  God 
and  his  creature.  I  found,  in  my  heart,  a  contra- 
riety to  him  which  I  was  unable  to  repress.  Again 
I  asked  myself — how  shall  I,  a  miserable  reptile, 
sustain  my  controversy  with  the  Omnipotent?  or 
stay  his  avenging  arm,  which  is  ready  to  visit  on 
me  the  whole  weight  of  his  just  indignation?  If  I, 
who  am  accustomed  to  wickedness,  and  hardened  in 
it,  yet  know  enough  of  what  is  right  to  abhor  and 


THE   TEST    OF    TRUTH.  121 

despise  myself,  in  ^vhat  light  must  I  appear  to  his 
all-holy  and  unclouded  judgment?  Put  the  case 
now — that  he  should  be  willing,  without  satisfaction 
required,  to  pass  over  my  offences,  to  forgive  me  for 
what  my  own  conscience  (planted  by  him)  condemns 
me.  What  would  be  the  consequences  of  this  cle- 
mency? I  should  no  longer  reverence  or  esteem 
him :  ceasing  to  be  just,  he  would  cease  to  be  God  in 
my  eyes.  I  can  no  more  suppose  God  Avithout  justice, 
than  I  can  suppose  man  without  a  soul.  This  attri- 
bute is  essential  to  his  character  as  Governor  of  the 
universe.  I  should  despise  a  fellow-creature  who 
should  govern  so  unjustly  and  weakly  as  to  suffer 
criminals  to  escape  without  paying  the  penalty 
due  to  their  crimes.  Such  a  one's  laws  would  be 
trampled  on,  and  his  person  treated  with  as  little 
regard  as  was  paid  to  the  fabled  log  sent  down  by 
Jupiter. 

Even  then — upon  the  monstrous  supposition  that 
God,  the  just  God,  who  has  in  so  many  ways  mani- 
fested his  indignation  against  sin,  could,  in  my  favour, 
be  induced  to  slacken  the  reins  of  his  government, 
and  throw  away  the  sceptre  of  his  justice — I  should 
gain  nothing  by  this,  but  the  galling  sensation  of 
being  under  the  yoke  of  one  not  greatly  better  than 
myself,  or  at  least  quite  incompetent  to  his  high 
office  as  Judge  of  the  whole  earth. 

On  the  other  hand — if  God  punishes  me,  I  am 
involuntarily  led  to  fear  and  hate  him.  To  love  a 
being  whose  glory  is  concerned  in  my  destruction, 
is   impossi])le.      How  shall  I  reconcile   these   two 


122  THE    TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

opposite  ideas  ? — the  justice  and  mercy  of  Him  ^Yllo 
is  at  once  my  Governor  and  Father!  If  God  par- 
dons my  sins,  he  is  not  a  just  God;  that  is,  he  is  no 
God  at  alL  If  he  do  not  pardon  sin,  at  least  in 
those  who  desire  to  return  to  him,  that  is  contrary 
to  what  nature  herself  suggests  to  me  of  his  goodness 
and  mercy.  Each  alternative  is  unspeakably  appall- 
ing. To  have  to  do  with  a  God  who  weakly  swerves 
from  the  demands  of  justice,  or  to  be  in  the  hands 
of  one  who,  by  letting  justice  have  her  perfect  work, 
should  shut  the  door  of  mercy  upon  mankind.  Yet 
the  former  of  these  alternatives  appeared  to  me  in- 
comparably the  most  dreadful !  I  had,  within  these 
few  hours,  acquired  such  a  perception  of  the  beauty 
of  holiness,  that  the  thought  of  an  unholy  God  was 
worse  than  hell  to  me.  I  felt  that  I  had  rather  God 
should  pour  out  on  me  all  the  vials  of  his  wrath, 
than  that,  carried  away  by  an  unworthy  softness  and 
weakness,  he  should  forgive,  and  thereby  encourage 
sin :  for  sin  appeared  to  me  in  so  odious  a  light,  that 
if  it  could  not  be  purged  out  of  God's  universe  with- 
out the  destruction  of  mankind,  who  by  sinning  had 
deranged  its  order  and  defaced  its  beauty,  my  soul 
was  almost  ready  to  acquiesce  in  the  general  destruc- 
tion, and  to  perish  in  it,  so  that  the  order  and  beauty 
of  God's  universe  might  be  restored.  To  undergo 
eternal  jDunishment  was  horrible.  To  acknowledge 
an  unholy  God  was  more  horrible! 

Besides  all  this,  I  plainly  perceived  that,  sup- 
posing even  there  were  any  means  of  restoration  to 
God's  favour,  I  should  be  continually  falling  from 


THE    TEST   OF  TRUTH.  123 

it  again,  unless  a  total  change  were  wrought  in  my 
whole  temper  and  disposition.  I  saw  not  how  this 
change  was  to  be  effected.  I  had  experienced  so 
much  of  the  weakness  of  my  best  resolutions,  that 
had  an  offer  of  pardon  been  held  out  to  me  upon  the 
condition  of  j^romising  not  to  offend  again,  I  should 
not  have  dared  to  make  that  promise.  Sin  had 
"separated  between  me  and  my  God."  This  sin 
was  not  an  act  which  I  could  lay  aside — a  habit 
which  I  could  shake  off;  but  it  was  a  nature.  How 
was  I  to  change  my  nature?  God,  who  made  me  at 
first,  could  alone  correct  the  dreadful  disease,  which 
had  so  mixed  itself  up  with  my  whole  constitution 
that  it  seemed  to  form  part  of  myself.  But  to  this 
God  how  should  I  apply?  or  what  reason  had  I  to 
hope  that  he  would  not  leave  me  to  the  consequences 
of  my  own  wilful  rebellion? 

In  this  dilemma  it  occurred  to  me,  as  a  last  expe- 
dient, to  turn  my  attention  once  more  to  that  despised 
book,  which  had  been  long  laid  aside  as  incapable 
of  affording  me  the  least  relief.  How  different  was 
the  temper  of  my  mind  in  which  I  now  addressed 
myself  to  it§  perusal,  from  that  in  which  I  had  read  it 
in  the  commencement  of  my  disbelief  of  Christianity! 
I  was  no  longer  a  proud  sophist,  triumphing  in  the 
strength  and  penetration  of  human  reason  and  in 
the  comprehensiveness  of  human  knowledge.  The 
contemplation  of  my  own  ignorance,  weakness,  and 
wickedness,  had  laid  my  pride  in  the  dust.  My  eyes 
were  opened  to  view  myself  as  I  really  was — de- 
praved and  blinded  in  my  reason,  judgment,  and 


124  THE   TEST    OF    TRUTH. 

understanding.  And  this  is  the  process  wMch  must 
take  place  in  the  soul  of  every  man  before  he  can  pur- 
sue the  search  after  truth  in  a  right  spirit.  He  must 
"become  a  fool,  that  he  may  be  wise:"^  not  that  he 
must  part  with  any  portion  of  his  rational  faculties ; 
but,  having  been  a  fool  all  his  life  long,  he  must  be 
led  to  discover  and  acknowledge  his  foolishness,  be- 
fore he  can  so  appreciate  wisdom  as  to  search  for  it 
with  his  whole  heart. 

My  attention  was  soon  powerfully  drawn  by  the 
promises  which  abound  in  the  Bible,  that  God  will 
reveal  himself  to  all  those  who  diligently  seek  him. 
When  I  read  these,  it  struck  me  that  the  Bible  itself 
oJBfered  an  infallible  test,  more  sure  than  all  the 
arguments  that  ever  were  written  for  and  against  it, 
to  prove  whether  it  was  indeed  the  word  of  God  or 
the  word  of  man.  To  own  the  truth,  I  was  at  first 
startled  by  the  unqualified  nature  of  these  promises. 
The  authors  of  these  books,  if  impostors — and  which 
I  still  inclined  to  believe  them — had  pledged  them- 
selves in  such  an  unguarded  manner  as  must  inevit- 
ably lead  to  their  detection.  Here  is  an  engagement 
— or  a  pretended  engagement — on  God's  part,  to  per- 
form a  miracle  in  favour  of  any  one  Avho  chooses  to 
ask  it  of  him.  For  what  can  be  a  greater  miracle 
than  to  give  thie  knowledge  of  himself  to  a  soul  that 
is  ignorant  of  him?  This  is  the  very  essence  and 
substance  of  all  miracles.  Other  wonders  and  signs 
may  be  disputed.  This  must  bring  conviction.  I 
cannot  persuade  myself  that  the  Autlior  of  this  book 
1  See  1  Corinthians  iii.  18. 


THE   TEST    OF    TRUTH.  125 

will  be  able  to  redeem  liis  pledge,  or  to  realize  the 
expectations  which  he  has  so  confidently  held  out. 
Nevertheless,  I  can  but  make  the  experiment.  I 
shall,  at  least,  forever  rid  myself  of  whatever  doubts 
I  may  have  entertained  respecting  the  origin  of  the 
Bible.  "Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you  ;  seek,  and 
ye  shall  find."  "  He  shall  give  his  Holy  Spirit  to 
them  that  ask  him."  "  Then  ye  shall  seek  me,  and 
find  me,  when  ye  shall  search  after  me  with  your 
whole  heart."  ^  Can  words  speak  plainer?  Well,  I 
will  ask — I  will  seek!  If  what  I  ask  is  given  me — 
if  I  find  what  I  seek — ^what  can  I  want  more  to  con- 
vince me  that  the  Bible  is  the  word  of  God?  If 
what  I  ask  is  7iot  given — if  I  do  not  find  what  I 
seek — I  may  safely  conclude  that  the  Bible  is  a  very 
awkwardly-contrived  lie;  and,  as  such,  I  will  cast 
it  from  me  with  contempt.  Be  this,  however,  as  it 
may,  I  can  lose  nothing  by  making  the  trial;  pos- 
sibly I  may  gain  much.  Whether  He  who  made 
this  promise  be  God  or  man,  his  reasoning  is  full  of 
judgment  and  good  sense.  For  who  is  to  give  us 
the  knowledge  of  God,  if  God  himself  either  can- 
not or  will  not  give  it  to  us?  Since  "  the  father  will 
not  give  his  son  a  stone,  when  he  asks  bread" — since 
evil  men  "know  how  to  give  lood  gifts  to  their  chil- 
dren ;"  how  reasonable  is  the  inference,  that  the  good 
God  must  "know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  his 
offspring"!  I  will  apply  to  my  unknown,  my 
heavenly  Father.  I  will  ask  him  to  give  me  the 
knowledge  of  himself.     Will  he  mock  me  with  a 

^  Luke  xi.  9-lH;  Jeremiah  xxix.  13. 
11* 


126  THE    TEST    OF   TEUTII. 

delusion?  Will  he  present  me  -with  "a  scorpion," 
when  "I  ask  him  for  bread"?  I  will  implore  him 
to  teach  me  to  believe  what  is  right  concerning  him. 
Supposing  the  Bible  account  of  him  to  be  wrong, 
will  he  thrust  this  icrong  belief  upon  me  when  I  am 
asking  him  for  a  rigid  one?  Is  he  indeed  so  unlike 
a  parent?  It  was  he  that  flisliioned  a  father's  heart 
and  implanted  a  father's  feelings.  Is  it  too  much 
to  suppose  that  he  himself  has  the  heart,  the  feel- 
ings, of  a  father? 

The  sense  of  my  guilt  held  me  back  for  a  time. 
I  feared  that  the  great  Being,  whom  I  was  about  to 
address,  would  not  listen  to  the  prayer  of  one  so 
worthless ;  but  I  reflected  that  a  state  of  submission 
and  desire  could  not  be  so  displeasing  to  him  as  one 
of  carelessness  and  rebellion.  To  lay  myself  low  at 
his  feet  with  the  deepest  prostration,  and  to  implore 
mercy,  was  all  that  I  could  do  in  my  present  igno- 
rance; and  since  mine  was  no  longer  a  wilful  igno- 
rance, I  hoped  that  Infinite  Benevolence  might  in 
time  extricate  me  from  it. 

One  thing  was  sufticiently  clear — man  was  not  able 
to  help  me  to  what  I  wanted.  God  alone  was  able 
to  assist  me.  It  remained  for  me  to  try  whether  he 
were  ivilling  to  save  a  soul  that  was  perishing  for 
*'lack  of  knowledge." 

Impelled  by  these  reflections,  fearful  and  uncer- 
tain, but  with  uncontrollable,  unutterable  longings, 
I  directed  my  supplications  to  the  "unknoioi  God.'' 
O  my  Redeemer!  the  first  breathings  of  my  soul 
were  not  uttered  in  thy  name.     I  rushed  into  the 


THE   TEST    OF   TRUTH.  127 

presence  of  my  Judge  without  a  Mediator;  but, 
doubtless,  even  then  thy  comeliness  was  thrown  over 
the  deformity  of  my  soul,  and  the  eye  of  my  Father 
beheld  me  with  pity  for  thy  dear  sake!  ]\Iy  prayer 
ascended  up  to  heaven  fragrant  with  the  incense  of 
thy  merits — though  the  poor  wretch  who  offered  it 
thought  to  please  God  by  leaving  thee  out  of  it! 
Let  thy  goodness  and  mercy  to  me  encourage  other 
poor  ignorant  souls,  who  are  groping  their  Avay  to 
God  in  the  dark,  not  to  desist  from  the  search  till 
they  have  found  him ;  and  having  found  him,  they 
will  find  thee ;  and  having  found  thee,  they  will 
hold  thee  fast,  or  rather  thou  Avilt  hold  them  fast, 
to  all  eternity! 

Thus  I  set  my  face  in  good  earnest  to  seek  the 
Lord  my  God.  'Every  other  employment  was  not 
only  laid  aside,  but  forgotten.  I  confessed  to  him 
that  I  was  unworthy  of  the  least  of  his  favours 
which  he  had  heaped  upon  me:  yet  I  ventured  to 
tell  him  that  all  these  were  of  no  value  in  my  eyes, 
except  as  they  encouraged  me  to  hope  for  some  fur- 
ther manifestation  of  his  goodness.  O  God!  (I 
dare  not  say,  my  God — the  word  died  upon  my  un- 
hallowed lips) — thou  hast  given  me  a  wondrous 
power  of  knowing;  but  there  is  but  one  thing  worth 
knowing;  and  of  that  I  am  ignorant — I  would  know 
thee.  iVIy  capacity  of  knowledge  is  no  better  than 
a  curse  to  me  while  the  only  thing  worthy  to  satisfy 
that  capacity  is  hid  from  me.  Thou — thou  art  the 
true  object  of  knowledge!  O  let  me  know  thee — or 
let  me  know  nothing!     Thou  hast  given  me  a  power 


128  THE   TEST    OF  TRUTH. 

of  loving;  but  in  vain  I  look  round  for  something 
to  love.  Thou  canst  fill  my  heart — and  none  but 
thou.  But  thee  I  cannot  find;  and  there  is  some 
wretched  principle  within  me  which  will  not  let  me 
love  thee.  O  thou,  who  art  all  lovely,  restore  me 
to  the  natural  perception  of  a  creature!  Bring 
back  my  alienated  affections  to  their  true  centre — 
that  I  may  see  and  love  Him  .who  gave  me  birth. 
Thou  hast  made  me  capable  of  boundless  longings 
and  desires — but  the  whole  earth  would  not  satisfy 
those  longings;  no,  nor  the  whole  universe,  unless  I 
could  find  thee  in  it.  Oh !  why  didst  thou  put  within 
me  such  high  and  restless  aspirings,  if  I  was  indeed 
made  for  so  low  an  end  as  to  live  and  die  without 
knowing  thee?  Thou  gavest  -me  the  appetite  of 
hunger — and  lo!  ever  since  I  was  "born,  thou  hast 
supplied  me  with  food  to  satisfy  that  hunger.  Dost 
thou  care  for  the  wants  of  the  body,  and  wilt  thou 
not  provide  for  the  wants  of  the  soul?  Now  my  soul 
hungers,  which  it  would  never  have  done  hadst  not 
thou  formed  it  capable  of  spiritual  appetites.  Wilt 
not  thou  give  the  food  that  must  satisfy  my  soiil.^ 
Will  the  God,  whose  goodness  prevents  every  bodily 
w^ant,  leave  me  to  perish  in  my  spiritual  necessities? 
The  power  of  thought,  the  ardent  and  ineliable 
breathings  of  my  mind,  are  but  so  many  aggrava- 
tions of  my  misery.  The  very  light  of  reason  only 
serves  to  make  my  darkness  visible,  to  discover  to 
me  how  low  I  am  fallen!  These  thy  great,  thy  pe- 
culiar blessings,  are  just  so  many  curses  to  me,  so 
long  as  I  am  shut  out  from  thy  knowledge  and  love. 


THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH.  129 

I  know  that  I  am  not  worthy ;  but  nature  whisjiers 
to  me  that  thou  art  merciful.  I  see  no  way  of  be- 
coming reconciled  to  thee;  but  reason  teaches  me 
that  thou  mayest  be  able  to  find  out  a  way,  though 
I  cannot.  Life  is  not  life,  unless  I  know  the  Giver 
of  it.  All  the  time  that  I  have  lived  without  thee 
in  the  world,  I  seem  to  have  been  dead ;  more  sense- 
less than  a  stock  or  stone — more  1^'Citish  than  the 
beasts  which  perish ! 

Such  things  as  these  I  groaned  out  of  the  fulness 
of  my  heart;  for  I  was  seldom  able  to  speak.  My 
deep  self-abhorrence,  and  the  inexpressible  ardency 
of  my  desires,  choked  up  the  way  to  every  outward 
expression  of  my  feelings.  I  often  lay  prostrate  on 
the  ground  for  hours  together — not  from  any  super- 
stitious preference  of  that  attitude,  but  because  the 
sense  of  my  own  unfitness  to  come  into  God's  pre- 
sence quite  overwhelmed  me.  I  should  have  sunk 
ijito  the  earth,  had  that  been  possible;  so  great  was 
the  prostration  of  soul  occasioned  by  the  perpetual 
consciousness  that  God  was  present,  and  that  I  was 
unworthy. 

In  this  manner  I  gave  myself  wholly  up  to  seek- 
ing for  my  Creator.  For  days  and  weeks  I,  however, 
sought  him  apparently  in  vain.  My  blindness  and 
uncertainty  seemed  to  increase  daily.  I  was  often 
on  the  point  of  abandoning,  in  despair,  an  effort 
so  unpromising,  and  wished  for  death,  as  the  only 
thing  which  could  terminate  my  afflicting  suspense; 
but  then  it  occurred  to  me  that  the  Bible  has  no- 
where promised  an  immediate  answer  to  prayer, 
I 


130  THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

The  experiment,  therefore,  was  not  a  fair  one — 
unless  it  was  persevered  in :  nay,  I  recollected  that, 
so  far  from  promising  an  immediate  answer,  it  gives 
relocated  intimations  that  we  may  perhaps  have  to 
wait  a  long  time  for  the  accomplishment  of  our 
desires.  It  warns  men  that  they  must  "tarry  the 
Lord's  leisure" — that  "they  must  pray,  and  not 
faint  :"^  besides  fhis,  I  could  not  deny  that  God  had 
long  waited  patiently  for  me,  and  borne  with  my 
careless  unconcern.  It  was  reasonable  that  I,  in  my 
turn,  should  wait  patiently  for  God;  and  not  aban- 
don the  search,  when  perhaps  a  little  further  perse- 
verance would  end  in  the  realization  of  my  most 
sanguine  wishes.  I  knew,  too,  that  I  was  in  pursuit 
of  an  object  worthy  of  the  intenseness  of  my  desires; 
and  which,  when  found,  would  amply  recompense 
any  labour  I  might  expend  in  seeking  it.  I  there- 
fore continued  my  entreaties,  that  God  would  gra- 
ciously vouchsafe  to  open  my  understanding  to  know 
him,  and  ray  heart  to  love  him  as  a  rational  creature 
ought  to  do. 

I  waited  not  in  vain.  God  at  length  revealed 
himself  to  my  understanding  in  a  way  that  abun- 
dantly surpassed  my  expectations — I  say  to  my  iuider- 
standing;  for  this  was  no  rapturous  trance  of  enthu- 
siasm, but  the  sober  and  rational  couviction  of  every 
faculty  of  my  mind.  I  hope  none  of  my  readers 
will  think  that  I  attribute  too  much  power,  or  too 
much  benevolence,  to  the  Supreme,  Being,  when  I 
assert  that  He  who  first  gave  me  understanding, 

'  Psalm  xxvii.  14;  Luke  xviii.  1. 


THE   TEST    OF   TRUTH.  131 

did  enlighten  that  understanding  in  a  manner  which 
I  was  sensible  no  efforts  of  my  own  could  have  done ; 
and  which  yet  was  so  clear — so  consistent — so  satis- 
factory, that  every  former  act  of  my  reason,  in  com- 
parison with  this,  seemed  like  the  incoherent  ravings 
of  delirium!  If,  however,  they  doubt,  let  thera  try 
the  exjieriment  for  themselves :  nor  let  them  suppose 
that  this  was  a  sudden  flash  of  conviction — no,  it 
was  a  process  as  collected  and  deliberate  as  that  by 
which  the  mind  first  scrutinizes  and  then  embraces 
the  propositions  of  mathematical  science.  My  eyes 
were  opened  to  discern  the  glory  and  excellence  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  their  amazing  superiority  to 
every  human  composition.  I  perceived  that  they 
carried  within  their  own  pages  a  witness  to  their 
Divine  origin.  Convinced  by  this  internal  evidence, 
I  recognized  in  the  Bible  the  revelation  of  God  to 
his  fallen  creatures.  In  this  book  alone,  I  saw  per- 
fect justice  and  perfect  mercy — perfect  holiness  and 
perfect  clemency — reconciled  in  a  way  worthy  of  the 
Deity ;  and  though  I  know  that  this  internal  evi- 
dence cannot  be  perceived  but  by  those  whose  eyes 
God  himself  opens  to  behold  the  wondrous  things 
out  of  his  law ;  yet,  trusting  that  he  will,  in  some 
instances,  thus  "confirm  the  word  of  his  servant,"  I 
will  endeavour,  to  comprise,  in  as  short  a  space  as 
possible,  the  points  which  struck  me  as  most-  w^orthy 
of  observation  during  this  (to  me)  memorable  peru- 
sal of  the  Sacred  Oracles.  Again  I  remind  my 
readers  that  the  correctness  of  my  assertions  can 
only  be^  proved  by  bringing  them  to  the  touchstone 


132  THE    TEST    OF   TRUTH. 

of  Truth.  If  God  did  indeed  teach  me,  he  must  be 
also  willing  to  instruct  them.  Let  them  try  whether 
he  is  able  to  keep  this  promise:  "Call  unto  me,  and 
I  will  answer  thee;  and  show, thee  great  and  mighty 
things  which  thou  knowest  not !"  ^ 

1.  The  character  given  of  God  in  the  Scriptures 
appeared  to  me  such  that  no  finite  mind  could  have 
conceived  or  portrayed  it.  Here  is  nothing  of  the 
imperfection — the  inconsistency — the  littleness  of 
humanity.  All  is  majesty  and  infinity!  No  one 
attribute  obscures  or  encroaches  upon  another. 
Here,  and  here  only,  we  have  a  God  glorious  in 
holiness — inflexible  in  justice — that  will  not  look 
upon  iniquity:  and  yet  slow  to  anger,  and  of  tender 
mercy,  justifying  the  ungodly,  and  teaching  sinners 
in  the  way.  Well  and  truly  did  the  apostle  describe 
the  scope  of  the  gospel  in  these  terms :  "  And  this 
is  the  message  we  have  heard  of  God,  and  declare 
unto  you,  that  God  is  light;  and  in  him  is  no  dark- 
ness at  all."  ^  No — there  is  no  darkness  in  the  Scrip- 
ture representation  t)f  God ;  but  when  men  attempt 
to  form  conceptions  of  his  character,  for  want  of  the 
comprehensive  vision  which  so  mighty  a  subject 
requires,  they  cannot  look  at  one  of  his  attributes 
without  losing  sight  of  another.  Thus  they  can  form 
some  faint  idea  of  his  justice,  or  of  his  mercy,  sepa- 
rately; though  even  that  is  a  justice,  and  a  mercy, 
limited  and  defective  like  their  own.  But  their 
narrow  minds  cannot  grasp  the  United  Idea!  They 
form  some  rude  conjectures  of  the  separate  parts; 

^  Jcr.  xxxiii.  3.  ^1  John  i.  6. 


THE   TEST  OF   TRUTH.  133 

but  the  mighty,  consistent  whole  is  quite  beyond 
their  hirgest  thought.  Therefore  it  is  that  some 
fancy  to  themselves  a  God  who  is  all  justice  and  no 
mercy;  while  far  the  greater  part  imagine  him  to  be 
all  mercy  and  no  justice,  or  at  least  fondly  persuade 
themselves  that  he  will  put  his  justice  by,  w^henever 
it  happens  to  interfere  with  their  convenience.  God 
is  merciful,  deluded  man !  but  his  mercy  is  not  like 
thy  mercy — it  is  neither  a  Aveak  nor  an  unholy 
principle ;  nor  will  it  avail  thee  aught,  if  thou  diest 
in  thy  sins ! 

Thus  man  cannot  describe  one  of  God's  perfections 
without  marring  another;  but  the  Scripture  takes 
them  all  into  the  account.  His  justice — his  mercy — 
his  holiness — his  compassion,  all  meet  in  perfect  uni- 
son, and  their  jarring  claims  are  sweetly  reconciled,  in 
Christ  Jesus.  This  was  exactly  what  I  wanted,  but 
had  scarcely  hoped  to  find.  This  was  the  God  w^hom 
I  had  longed  to  call  "my  God!"  Now  I  could  say, 
"my  God!"  Now  I  could  call  him  " Father,  and 
Friend!"  Now  I  had  forgiveness  extended  to  me, 
which,  far  from  involving  the  horrible  compromise 
of  God's  holiness  which  I  had  fancied  necessary 
before  he  could  pardon  me,  was  itself  "the  beauty 
of  holiness:" — was  such  a  manifestation  of  God's 
sanctity  and  his  hatred  to  sin,  that  in  the  very  act 
of  showing  mercy  his  justice  and  his  holiness  were 
most  gloriously  vindicated. 

2.  The  character  of  Jesus  caused  me  fresh  trans- 
ports of  admiration  every  time  I  contemplated  it. 
How  many  writers  have  wearied  themselves  in  the 
1? 


134  THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

attempt  to  describe  a  perfect  character!  and  liow 
miserably  have  they  all  failed !  Now,  here  was  an 
undertaking  ten  thousand  times  more  arduous:  so 
bold  that  the  very  coaception  of  it  could  scarcely 
have  entered  into  the  liniited  capacity  of  man.  It 
■was  no  less  than  this — to  delineate  the  character  of 
One  who  should  be  at  once  "  perfect  man  and  perfect 
God"—"  God  manifest  in  the  flesh." 

And  how  do  they  attempt  to  embody  this  magni- 
ficent conception?  What  splendid  description  shall* 
convey  to  us  the  boundless  ideas,  or  astound  us  into 
a  belief  of  its  reality?  What  learned  definitions 
shall  mark  the  points  of  the  character  they  have 
chosen  to  portray?  Do  they  seek  to  dazzle  us  by 
placing  their  hero  in  an  exalted  rank  and  surrounding 
him  with  every  circumstance  of  magnificence?  Do 
they  make  him  run  a  long  career  of  glory,  adorned 
with  the  highest  advantages  of  honour,  valour,  and 
learning?  Quite  the  contrary.  They  give  us  the  very 
plain  and  simple  history  of  a  man  who  passed  his  life 
in  a  poor  and  mean  condition,  surrounded  by  enemies 
who  spared  no  pains  to  crush  and  disgrace  him,  who 
would  have  been  overjoyed  to  discern  the  least  defect 
in  his  extraordinary  character.  He  is  born  in  a 
manger;  educated  as  a  carpenter's  son;  lives  in 
poverty  and  contempt  as  an  itinerant  preacher ;  and 
dies  an  infamous  death  between  two  thieves.  The 
ignominy  of  his  life  and  death,  the  low  esteem  in 
which  he  should  be  held  by  all,  were  portrayed 
beforehand  with  so  much  exactness  in  the  sacred 
bookb  of  the  Jews  (books  confided  to  the  care  of  the 


THE   TEST    OF  TRUTH.  135 

Jewish  priests,  his  bitter  enemies)  that  many  infidels 
have  been  converted  to  Christianity  by  comparing 
the  prophetic  writings  with  the  gospel  history ;  and 
the  Jewish  Rabbins,  unable  to  evade  their  force, 
have  been  constrained  to  prohibit  the  reading  of  one 
chapter  in  particular  (Isaiah  liii.)  under  the  severest 
denunciations.  The  coincidence  between  the  pro- 
phetic life  and  character  of  Jesus,  and  his  real  life 
and  character,  struck  me  forcibly.  These  were  not 
prophecies  of  which  it  could  be  pleaded,  that  they 
were  written  after  the  events  they  described ;  for  not 
only  have  we  certain  proof  to  the  contrary,  but  we 
know  that  the  Jews  w^ould  be  very  glad  of  such  a 
plea,  and  yet  they  have  never  ventured  to  make  it. 
Nor  can  it  be  said  that  the  accomplishment  was 
forced  and  strained  to  suit  the  prophecy;  for  the 
most  striking  points  of  coincidence  consist  of  facts 
over  which  an  impostor  could  exercise  no  control,  or 
traits  of  character  which  w^ere  very  unlikely  to  have 
occurred  to  him.  Again,  supposing  the  gospel  to 
be  an  invention,  here  was  another  difficulty  of  no 
common  magnitude  which  its  authors  had  to  encoun- 
ter. Not  only  had  they  to  describe  this  perfect  two- 
fold character,  but  to  make  it  naturally  fall  in  and 
accord  with  divers  accounts  scattered  here  and  there 
through  a  series  of  books  written  at  very  different 
times  and  in  very  different  styles  of  description. 
Surely,  if  the  gospel  be  a  lie,  it  is  the  most  ingenious 
lie  that  ever  was  invented,  and  its  writers  must  have 
had  longer  and  clearer  heads  than  fall  to  the  lot  of 
impostors  in  our  times. 


11)6  THE   TEST   OF   TKUTH. 

But  to  return.  I  scrutinized  again  and  again 
every  part  of  tliis  divine  character,  represented  with 
so  much  plainness  and  under  such  unfavourable 
circumstances.  But,  after  all  my  scrutiny,  I  could 
not  find,  I  will  not  say  a  fault,  but  not  even  so  much 
as  an  inconsistency,  in  the  character  of  Jesus.  To 
describe  a  character  without  any  glaring  defects,  is 
a  comparatively  easy  task;  but  to  describe  one 
which  should  be  consistent  in  all  its  parts,  appeared 
to  me  utterly  impossible  to  a  being  so  inconsistent 
as  man.  Especially  a  character  so  singular  as  this, 
whose  distinguishing  points  are  directly  contrary  to 
the  distinguishing  points  of  man's  character  in  gene- 
ral. Like  the  Pharisees  (though  I  trust  in  a  far 
different  sjiirit),  I  lay  in  wait  to  "  catch  Jesus  in  his 
words."  ^  Often  did  I  fancy  that  I  had  met  with 
something  at  which  I  might  reasonably  be  offended. 
But  that  Holy  Spirit,  who  had  already  begun  to 
take  of  the  things  of  Jesus  and  show  them  unto  me, 
always  led  me  in  the  end  to  perceive  that  the  offence 
was  occasioned  by  my  own  gross  ignorance  and  viti- 
ated judgment  of  spiritual  things.  As  each  difficulty 
was  successively  cleared  up,  my  admiration  rose  to 
ecstasy,  and  my  doubts  were  lost  in  a  deep  and  loving 
confidence,  till  at  length,  after  many  of  these  trials, 
I  could,  when  any  thing  seemed  strange  to  me,  go  to 
Jesus  himself,  and  sitting  down  at  his  feet  as  a  little 
child,  expect  from  him  a  solution  of  the  mystery. 
I  no  longer  exclaimed,  This  is  contrary  to  reason,  I 
will  not  believe: — but,  This  surpasses  my  comprehen- 
1  Mark  xii.  13. 


TUE   TEST    OF   TRUTH.  lo7 

sion,  I  cannot  understand; — Lord,  teach  thy  foolish 
and  ignorant  creature  what  this  means !  The  more 
I  studied  this  divine  character,  the  more  I  grew  up, 
as  it  were,  into  its  holiness  and  simplicity,  the  more 
my  understanding  was  enabled  to  shake  off  those 
slavish  and  sinful  prejudices,  which  had  hindered 
me  from  appreciating  its  excellence.  Truly  his 
"  words  were  dearer  to  me  than  my  necessary  food."  ^ 
He  became  unto  me  "  wisdom,  and  righteousness,  and 
sanctification,  and  redemption."  ^  He  was  my  "  all  in 
all."  I  did  not  want  to  have  any  knowledge,  good- 
ness, or  strength,  independently  of  him.  I  had 
rather  be  "accepted  in  the  beloved"  than  received 
(had  that  been  possible)  upon  the  score  of  my  own 
merits.  I  had  rather  walk  leaning  on  his  arm,  than 
have  a  stock  of  strength  given  me  to  perform  the 
journey  alone.  To  learn,  as  a  fool,  of  Christ,  this 
Avas  better  to  me  than  to  have  the  knowledge  of  an 
angel  to  find  out  things  for  myself.  Nor  is  there 
any  thing  in  all  this  contrary  to  reason.  For  as  the 
highest  wisdom  of  a  little  child  is  to  learn  implicitly 
of  its  teacher,  so  I,  having  found  a  teacher  and 
guide,  whose  intelligence  was  above  mine  or  the 
angels',  not  as  a  man  is  above  the  child,  but  "as  he 
who  maketh  a  house  is  greater  than  the  house,"  it 
was  my  business  to  learn  implicitly  of  him,  and  to 
submit  my  mind  to  his,  secure  that  I  should  thus 
attain  the  highest  end  of  a  created  being. 

But  I  turn  back  for  a  moment  to  the  reflections 
which  possessed  me,  when  first  the  beauty,  consist- 

1  Job  xxiii.  12.  2  1  Corinthians  1.  30. 

12* 


138  THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

ency,  aud  majesty  of  the  character  of  Jesus  began 
to  be  evident  to  my  mmd.  I  asked  myself,  who  had 
invented  this  character?  A  company  of  ignorant 
fishermen?  Or  supposing  we  will  not  allow  them  to 
be  the  authors,  still  the  language  and  style  of  the 
writings  may  prove  to  us  that  they  were  the  compo- 
sition of  unlearned  men,  incapable  of  any  effort  of 
intellect  beyond  that  required  to  tell  a  plain  unvar- 
nished tale.  But  grant  even  that  they  were  men  of 
learning  and  genius :  still  it  appeared  to  me  that  to 
believe  the  life  and  character  of  Jesus  to  be  the 
invention  of  any  merely  human  intellect,  required 
a  far  greater  stretch  of  credulity  than  to  believe 
that  he  was  "God  manifest  in  the  flesh."  Those 
indeed  who  can  persuade  themselves  that  this  world 
and  all  its  curiously  contrived  machinery  were  the 
work  of  a  blind  chance,  may  conclude  that  the  cha- 
racter of  Jesus  was  traced  by  a  mere  mortal  pen. 
But  those  w^ho  attribute  any  thing  to  a  divine  power, 
must,  we  should  think,  perceive,  in  this,  manifest 
tokens  of  a  divine  power.  No  intellect  short  of  an 
infinite  intellect  could  have  conceived  the  mighty 
thought.  No  pen  uninspired  by  that  intellect  could 
have  embodied  that  thought  in  the  life  of  an  obscure 
individual.  Were  I  to  assure  you  that  the  immortal 
work  of  Newton  Avas  composed  by  a  child  at  the 
breast,  you  would  smile  at  my  simplicity.  But  I  am 
ready  to  weep  at  the  violence  you  offer  to  your  rea- 
soning faculties,  when  you  can  lay  your  hand  upon 
the  life  of  Christ,  and  pronounce  that  to  be  the  pro- 
duction of  any  human    mind.     Yet   remembering 


THE   TEST   OF   TRUTH.  139 

that  your  reason  is  blinded  by  the  deceitfulness  of 
sin,  and  that  I  was  once  as  blind  as  yourself,  not 
even  this  excess  of  prejudice  can  damp  my  hopes 
respecting  you.  I  lift  up  my  heart  to  God,  who 
opens  the  blind  eyes.  In  the  mean  time,  though 
now  you  "see  no  beauty  in  Jesus  that  you  should 
desire  him,"  yet  I  beseech  you,  for  the  sake  of  truth 
and  candour,  to  give  his  character  in  the  Bible  your 
serious  consideration.  There  is  a  divine  power  and 
excellency  in  it,  which  may  find  its  way  to  your 
heart  when  you  least  expect  it.  And  if  ever  "God 
shines  in  your  heart,  to  give  you  the  knowledge  of 
the  glory  of  God,"  that  glory  will  be  revealed  to  you 
"in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ."^ 

3.  The  Scripture  character  of  man  struck  me  as 
differing  exceedingly  from  that  given  in  any  other 
book.  It  was  evidently  no  portrait  of  his  own 
painting.  Every  other  book  represents  man  more 
or  less  as  he  ought  to  be.-  The  .Bible  alone  depicts 
him  as  he  really  is.  All  the  systems  of  all  the  phi- 
losophers, all  the  religions  of  all  nations,  are  founded 
upon  the  supposition  that  the  heart  of  man  is  not 
altogether  corrupt,  that  a  little  mending  and  patch- 
ing only  are  wanting  to  bring  it  to  perfection.  One 
lauds  the  dignity  and  rectitude  of  human  nature. 
Another  talks  of  the  sincerity  of  our  endeavours, 
and  the  efficacy  of  our  resolutions.  What  say  the 
Scriptures?  "The  heart  of  man  is  deceitful  above 
all  things,  and  desperately  wicked."'*  If  you  patch 
new  cloth  upon  the  old  garment,  you  will  only  make 

1  See  2  Corinthians  iv.  6.  2  Jeremiah  xvii.  9. 


140  THE   TEST    OF  TRUTH. 

the  rent  worse.^  Of  our  dignity  they  say,  "the 
crown  is  fallen  from  our  head :  woe  unto  us,  that  we 
have  sinned."^  Of  our  rectitude  and  sincerity, — 
"ye  are  estranged  from  the  womb;  ye  go  astray  as 
soon  as  ye  are  born,  speaking  lies."  ^  Of  our  endea- 
vours,— "  without  me,  ye  can  do  nothing."  *  Of  our 
resolutions, — "  ye  are  not  sufficient  of  yourselves  to 
think  any  thing  as  of  yourselves."  ^  They  stoop  not 
to  flatter  the  pride  and  vanity  of  man  by  false  and 
hollow  encouragements.  They  go  to  the  root  of  the 
evil.  They  tell  him  the  plain  truth;  that  he  has 
neither  rectitude  to  choose,  nor  sincerity  to  love, 
nor  energy  to  resolve,  nor  strength  to  execute,  that 
which  is  good.  "They  are  sottish  children,  and 
have  not  known  me;  they  are  wise  to  do  evil,  but 
to  do  good  they  have  no  knowledge."^  What  I  had 
been  led  to  discover  of  my  own  heart,  corresponded 
with  the  declarations  of  Scripture,  as  exactly  as 
when  "a  man  beholdeth  his  natural  face  in  a  glass." 
I  will  say  more.  This  book  discovered  to  me  so 
many  new  enormities  of  which  I  was  before  igno- 
rant, that  I  could  not  help  exclaiming  at  every  page, 
Surely  He  only  who  search eth  the  heart  could  so  ac- 
curately describe  its  dark  and  intricate  movements! 
Surely  none  but  he  who  made  man  could  know  so 
well  what  was  in  man! 

Now,  in  any  case  of  bodily  disease,  it  inconceiv- 
ably enhances  our  confidence  in  a  physician  if, 
while  he  describes  to  us  the  symptoms  of  our  case, 

1  See  Matt.  ix.  16.  ^  Lam.  v.  16.  s  Psalm  Iviii.  3.      . 

*  John  XV.  5.  5  2  Cor.  iii.  5.  6  jer.  iv.  22. 


THE   TEST    OF   TRUTH.  141 

we  perceive  tluit  our  feelings  exactly  tally  witli  every 
part  of  his  description:  we  indulge  a  reasonable 
hope  that  he,  who  has  so  thoroughly  acquainted 
himself  with  the  symptoms  of  our  complaint,  will 
be  able  to  suggest  a  remedy.  Thus  it  was  with  my 
spiritual  malady.  I  found  every  particular  of  my 
sufferings,  my  necessities,  my  blindness,  obduracy, 
and  depravity  of  heart,  laid  down  in  the  Bible  with 
such  extraordinary  and  felicitous  precision  of  lan- 
guage, that  from  that  time  my  own  words  seemed  quite 
inadequate  to  the  description  of  my  case.  I  could 
recollect  none  but  Scripture  words  when  I  wanted  to 
define  my  feelings:  all  other  words  seemed  poor, 
feeble,  and  unmeaning.  As  a  person  who  has  long 
been  labouring  under  sensations  which  he  is  unable 
to  describe,  if  he  lights  upon  an  exact  delineation 
of  them,  will  exclaim,  "  Ah !  that  is  exactly  what 
I  wanted  to  say;  only  I  could  not  find  words  to 
express  it  in" — so  in  reading  the  Scripture  descrip- 
tion of  the  sin  and  ignorance  of  man,  I  was  con- 
tinually forced  to  cry  out,  "  Yes — my  exjoerience  is 
the  very  counterpart  of  this!  only  it  is  expressed 
with  a  force  and  appropriateness  which  no  language 
of  mine  could  have  reached."  It  will  not  appear 
wonderful  that,  lighting  upon  this  astonishing  accu- 
rate definition  of  my  wants  and  distresses,  I  should 
be  disposed  to  give  a  very  serious  and  attentive 
consideration  to  the  remedy  proposed  for  them. 

4.  I  was  greatly  struck  by  the  Scripture  account 
of  the  nature  or  essence  of  sin.  Other  codes  and 
systems  content  themselves  with  reprobating  a  few 


142  THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

of  its  exterior  indications;  the  Bible  goes  straight 
to  the  heart,  and  drags  its  hidden  motives  to  the 
light:  other  systems  make  the  essence  of  sin  to  con- 
sist in  the  violation  of  our  duties  to  man ;  the  Bible 
makes  it  consist  in  the  violation  of  our  duty  to  God. 
These  speak  of  the  neglect  of  human  or  natural 
laws*and  rights ;  the  Bible  allows  of  no  law  but  th^ 
law  of  God — no  right  but  the  right  which  God  has 
in  us  as  his  creatures.  It  tells  us  that  all  sin  is  com- 
prised in  our  alienation  from  Him  in  whom  all  sub- 
ordinate duties  and  relations  centre.  "Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  v.ith  all  thine  heart."  This 
is  the  first  and  great  commandment.  "Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself,"  is  the  second;  like 
unto  the  first,  dependent  on  it,  naturally  and  neces- 
sarily flowing  from  it.^  To  violate  the  first  and 
great  command,  this  is  sin.  To  violate  the  second 
is  the  inevitable  consequence  of  breaking  the  first ; 
for  no  one  ever  yet  hated  his  brother,  who  did  not 
first  hate  God.  "  The  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against 
God."  ^  This  is  the  deadly  root  whence  every  lesser 
abomination  proceeds.  All  that  human  ingenuity 
has  ever  effected  has  been  to  lop  off  some  of  the 
minor  branches,  to  prune  a  few  excrescences,  which 
have  immediately  sprouted  forth  with  redoubled 
vigour.  The  Bible  lays  the  axe  to  the  root  of  the 
tree.  The  catalogue  of  our  crimes  always  begins  With 
this  damning  article,  and  is  usually  summed  up  in 
it — "In  transgressing  and  lying  against  the  Lord, 
and  departing  away  from  our  God:"^  this  is  the  sum 

1  Matt  xxii.  37-;-!9.         2  i|„ra.  viii.  7.  ^  Isaiah  lix.  13. 


THE   TEST    OF   TRUTH.  143 

and  substance  of  our  offence.  This  separates  between 
us  and  God :  this  has  brought  the  curse  into  every 
one  of  our  dwellings.  Other  sins  are  but  the  puny 
offspring  of  this  horrid  and  unnatural  progenitor. 

The  Bible  statement  is  the  only  one  in  the  least 
consonant  with  unbiassed  reason  and  sound  sense. 
For,  if  there  be  a  God  at  all,  he  must  have  a  greater 
right  in  his  creatures  than  any  other  being  can  pos- 
sibly have.  To  serve  and  love  him  supremely  must 
be  that  law  which  alone  deserves  to  be  called  the 
law  of  nature;  and  if  men  universally  love  and 
delight  in  any  thing  else  more  than  in  him,  they 
stand  universally  condemned  of  living  in  a  state  of 
contrariety  to  the  law  of  nature :  that  is,  they  frus- 
trate the  true  end  of  their  nature ;  they  are  guilty 
of  that  black  and  unnatural  dereliction  from  duty, 
which  constitutes  the  essence  and  malignity  of  sin. 

5.  The  Scripture  remedy  for  sin,  and  all  the  evils 
it  has  brought  in  its  train,  -was  so  consummately 
adapted  to  my  necessities,  that  this  circumstance 
would  have  alone  sufficed  to  rivet  my  attention. 
Sensible  that  I  was  in  a  state  of  alienation  from 
God,  I  was  afraid  of  his  just  vengeance,  and  yet 
more  afraid  that  in  pardoning  sin  he  should  prove 
a  weak  and  unjust  being  like  myself.  If  I  rejected 
the  idea  of  an  angry  God,  an  unholy  God  seemed 
my  only  alternative.  I  saw  not  how  infinite  com- 
passion itself  could  save  me,  but  at  the  expense  of 
infinite  justice  and  purity.  Those  only  who  have 
known  the  agony  of  feeling  themselves  condemned 
by  God  and  their  own  conscience,  can  comprehend 


144  THE   TEST   OF   TRUTH. 

the  joy  with  which  I  hailed  the  glad  tidings,  "that 
God  can  be  just,  and  yet  the  Justifier  of  him  who 
believeth  in  Jesus."  ^  My  wretched  and  unnatural 
state  with  regard  to  God  consisted  in  three  particu- 
lars. I  was  ignorant  of  God — averse  from  God — 
and  afraid  of  God.  Jesus  Christ  revealed  the  Father 
to  me — took  away  the  enmity — and  opened  a  way 
of  access  with  boldness  and  confidence.  I  under- 
stood how  "  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world 
unto  himself,  not  imputing  their  trespasses  unto 
them."^  O  the  depth,  the  wisdom,  the  harmony,  of 
my  Father's  counsels,  as  "the  Spirit  took  of  them" 
for  Christ's  sake,  "and  showed  them  unto  me"!  O 
the  exceeding  glory  and  excellence  of  my  Father's 
character,  as  I  studied  it  in  Him  "  who  is  the  bright- 
ness  of  the  Father's  image,  in  whom  dwelleth  all 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily"!^  Then  I  per- 
ceived how  the  doctrine  of  "  the  cross,  while  to  some 
it  is  a  stumbling-block,  and  to  others  foolishness,  is 
nevertheless  to  those  who  are  saved,  the  power  of 
God  and  the  wisdom  of  God."  *  In  the  incarnation, 
life,  death,  and  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  I  beheld 
the  love  of  God  manifested,  his  law  exalted,  his  jus- 
tice satisfied,  and  my  salvation  complete.  I  knew 
by  my  own  joyful  experience  "that  God  has  given 
unto  us  eternal  life,  and  that  this  life  is  in  his  Son.""* 
Poor  infidel,  whoever  thou  art,  my  brother  or 
sister  in  sin  and  misfortune!  cast  not  these  pages 
from  thee  as  the  ravings  of  enthusiasm.     Scoff  at 

i  Rom.  iii.  25,  26.         '^  2  Cor.  v.  19.         '^  Heb.  i.  3;  Col.  ii.  9. 
*  1  Cor.  i.  23,  24.  5  1  John  v.  11. 


THE   TEST    OF   TRUTH.  145 

tliem  I  know  thou  wilt,  unless  the  Spirit  of  God 
arrest  thy  heart  as  he  did  mine.  But  remember 
that  they  are  written  by  one  who  once  held  the  same 
sentiments  with  thyself.  Consider  that  so  wonder- 
ful a  revolution  in  these  sentiments  could  not  have 
been  eflected  and  persisted  in  without  some  reasons 
for  such  a  change.  I  have  told  thee  how  I  came  to 
the  knowledge  of  what  I  believe  to  be  the  truth. 
The  experiment  I  made  use  of  was  simple  and  easy, 
and,  in  my  case,  conclusive.  Would  it  not  be  more 
candid  on  thy  part  to  try  the  same  test,  than  to 
scoff  at  what  thou  hast  not  tried  ?  All  I  ask  is,  that 
when  any  thing  I  say  appears  mystical  or  extrava- 
gant, thou  wouldst  try  for  thyself,  whether  a  perse- 
vering use  of  "the  Test  of  Truth"  may  not  make  it 
appear  plain  and  reasonable. 

The  grand  difference  which  I  found  between  the 
remedy  offered  by  the  Bible,  and  that  of  every  other 
religion  in  the  world,  was  this.  They  all  hold  out 
to  us  insufficient  motives  for  action,  and  direct  us  to 
an  insufficient  source  of  strength.  The  motive  of 
our  virtue  is  to  be  self-esteem  or  the  applause  of 
others.  Our  strength  is  to  be  derived  from  our  own 
resolutions  or  reasonings.  The  Bible,  on  the  con- 
trary, forbids  us  to  think  highly  of  ourselves,  or  to 
"receive  honour  one  of  another:"  it  commands  us 
to  "  seek  the  honour  which  cometh  of  God  only."  ^ 
The  love  of  our  reconciled  God  in  Christ  Jesus, 
sweetly  rekindling  our  long-extinguished  affections 
to  him,  is  to  be  the  motive  of  all  our  actions.     Now, 

1  Rom.  xii.  3,  10;  Phil.  ii.  3;  John  v.  44. 


146  THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

this  motive  will  last  as  long  as  the  love  of  God  lasts ; 
that  is,  to  all  eternity.  Human  motives  are  perish- 
able. The  praise  we  so  eagerly  covet,  disappoints 
our  expectation  when  it  is  obtained.  And  what 
self-esteem  can  quiet  a  wounded  conscience?  Be- 
sides, the  Bible  motive  is  worthy  of  a  rational  being. 
Human  motives  are  such,  that  those  who  are  most 
influenced  by  them  are  ashamed  to  own  them. 
Love,  divine  love,  purifies,  and  ennobles,  and  satisfies 
the  soul :  it  makes  the  source  of  actions  pure,  and 
then  the  actions  themselves  must  be  so.  Human 
motives  debase  the  soul,  and  render  it  mean  and 
selfish:  they  must  in  the  end  prove  unsatisfactory: 
they  pollute  the  source  of  actions,  and  make  men 
like  painted  sepulchres,  fair  without,  but  hollow  and 
rotten  within.  And  as  for  strength,  while  the  Bible 
assures  us  that  all  human  efforts  and  resolutions  are 
frail  as  the  bruised  reed  and  transitory  as  the  morn- 
ing dew,  it  informs  us  that  "the  grace  of  Jesus  is 
sufficient  for  us,"  and  that  we  "  can  do  all  things 
through  Christ  which  strengtheneth  us."^  I  applied 
for  this  grace  and  this  strength.  I  did  not  apply  in 
vain. 

One  peculiarity  in  the  Scripture  remedy  struck 
me  as  very  remarkable.  This  was  the  pains  taken 
to  pour  contempt  upon  all  human  pride  and  glory. 
As  we  fell  by  pride  and  independence,  we  must  be 
restored  by  humility  and  dependence.  The  Scrip-' 
tures  leave  us  not  one  single  thing  in  ourselves 
whereof  to  glory.     The. "  wise  man  must  not  glory 

1  2  Cor.  xii.  9;  Phil.  iv.  13. 


THE   TEST   OF  TRUTH.  147 

in  his  wisdom,  nor  the  strong  man  in  his  might,  nor 
the  rich  man  in  his  riches."  ^  All  boasting  is  forever 
excluded.  If  we  come  to  God,  it  must  be  as  sinners 
through  Christ.  If  we  receive  heaven,  it  must  be 
as  the  purchase  of  Christ's  merits,  not  of  our  own 
deservings.  From  first  to  last,  the  Christian  is 
taught  to  say,  "  Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us, 
but  unto  thy  name  give  glory."  ^ 

6.  During  this  reading,  I  discovered  the  reason 
which  had  so  long  prevented  me  from  receiving  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and  from  finding  in  the  Scrip- 
tures those  treasures  of  wisdom  and  gladness  which 
they  contain.  "They  that  be  whole,"  says  this 
divine  philosophy,  "need  not  a  physician,  but  they 
that  are  sick."^  So  long  as  I  knew  not  that  my 
soul  was  altogether  infected  with  the  dreadful  malady 
of  sin,  it  was  not  possible  for  me  to  appreciate  His 
love,  who  came  to  save  me  from  my  sins.  But  when 
the  Holy  Spirit  taught  me  that  I  was  utterly  undone 
and  unclean,  then  the  knowledge  of  Him  who  "  is 
able  to  save  to  the  uttermost,"  and  whose  "blood 
cleanseth  from  all  sin,"  became  the  only  cordial 
which  could  relieve  my  fainting  spirits.  From  that 
moment  I  ceased  to  stumble  at  the  doctrine  of  the 
cross.  I  was  a  sinner,  I  wanted  a  Saviour.  In  Jesus 
Christ  I  found  all  my  wants  .-atisi;;  d.  I  fled  for 
refuge  to  this  hope,  which  had  been  thus  unexpect- 
edly set  before  me.  Into  his  hands  I  have  committed 
my  spirit,  and  I  know  "that  he  is  able  to  keep  that 
which  I  have  committed  to  him."*    Thus  will  you, 

1  Jer.  ix.  23.      *  Psalm  cxv.  1.      3  Matt.  ix.  12.     *  2  Tim.  i.  12. 


148  THE   TEST   OF   TRUTH. 

when  God  shows  you  that  you  are  vile  and  con- 
demned and  hateful  in  his  sight,  experience  the 
sweetness  of  the  name  of  Jesus. 

7.  The  Scriptures  afford  me  a  clue  to  many  things 
which  have  embarrassed  the  most  penetrating  un- 
derstandings. One  of  these  things  was  the  reason 
why  it  happens  that  this  book  appears  full  of  absurdi- 
ties and  contradictions  to  an  unconverted  person; 
while  the  believer  views  it  as  a  glorious  whole,  all 
whose  parts  are  in  perfect  unison  and  explain  and 
illustrate  each  other.  And  this  is  the  reason: — 
"  The  natural  man  understandeth  not  the  things  of 
the  Spirit  of  God,  for  they  are  foolishness  to  him; 
neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they  are  spirit- 
ually discerned."  ''  For  the  god  of  this  world  hath 
blinded  the  minds  of  them  that  believe  not,  lest  the 
glorious  gospel  of  Christ  should  shine  unto  them."^ 
The  doctrines  of  Scripture,  which  had  before  ap- 
peared to  me  an  inexplicable  mass  of  confusion  and 
contradictions,  were  now  written  on  my  understand- 
ing with  the  clearness  of  a  sunbeam.  For,  saith 
the  same  Scripture,  "God,  who  commanded  the 
light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  hath  shined  in  our 
hearts,  to  give  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ." ' 

Above  all,  that  once  abhorred  doctrine  of  the 
divinity  of  Christ  was  now  become  exceeding  pre- 
cious to  me.  From  my  inmost  soul  I  recognized 
Jesus  as  my  Lord  and  my  God.  Of  this  change  in 
my  views,  I  also  found  an  account  in   Scripture. 

1  1  Cor.  ii.  14 ;  2  Cor.  iv.  4.  2  i  Cor.  iv.  6. 


THE   TEST   OF   TRUTH.  149 

"No  man  can  say  that  Jesus  is  the  Lord,  but  by  the 
Holy  Ghost."  ^  Nominal  Christians  may  indeed 
call  him  Lord,  Lord,  with  their  lips,  and  in  the 
externals  of  a  formal  devotion,  but  their  hearts 
cannot  go  along  with  their  professions,  until  the 
Spirit  of  God  convince  them. 

I  was  sensible  that  a  vast  revolution  had  been 
effected  in  my  temper,  views,  and  dispositions.  For 
this  I  should  have  been  at  a  loss  to  account,  had  not 
the  same  Bible  furnished  me  with  a  solution  of  the 
mystery.  "  If  any  man  be  in  Christ  Jesus,  he  is  a 
new  creature;  old  things  are  passed  away;  behold,  all 
things  are  become  new."  * 

The  external  evidences  of  Christianity,  though  I 
now  perceived  all  their  force,  were  no  longer  neces- 
sary to  my  conviction.  I  need  no  proofs  to  convince 
me  that  the  sun  is  shining  at  mid-day.  I  needed 
none  to  convince  me  that  the  love  of  my  reconciled 
God  and  Father  was  shining  full  upon  my  soul,  with 
an  enlightening,  purifying,  and  vivifying  influence. 
When  objections  assailed  me,  I  found  myself  much  in 
the  situation  of  the  man  who  opposed  to  all  the  cavils 
of  the  Jews  this  simple  yet  irresistible  answer: — 
"  "Whether  these  things  be  as  ye  say,  I  know  not ; — 
one  thing  I  knoiv, — that  whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I 
seer^ 

Having  formed  my  opinions  solely  by  the  word 
of  God,  my  attention  was  naturally  attracted  by  the 
various  sects  of  Christianity  with  which  this  land  of 
toleration  abounds.     I  belonged  to  the  Established 

1  1  Cor.  xii.  3.  2  2  Cor.  v.  17.  »  John  x.  25, 

13* 


150  THE    TEST   OF  TRUTH. 

Church,  and  found  every  reason  to  continue  within 
her  walls.  But  in  every  sect  which  took  the  pure 
unadulterated  Bible  for  its  standard,  I  perceived  a 
small  number  of  persons  who  desired  no  other  hap- 
piness than  the  love  of  God.  These,  I  observed,  to 
whatever  denomination  they  belong,  loved  and  un- 
derstood one  another,  but  were  often  hated  and  mis- 
construed by  the  rest  of  mankind.  If  they  differed 
as  to  some  points  of  minor  importance,  they  were, 
however,  unanimous  upon  the  grand  essentials  of 
religion.  In  this  one  point  especially,  I  found  them 
to  be  all  perfectly  agreed  among  thems^ves,  and 
perfectly  opposed  to  all  other  men : — they  with  one 
consent  ascribed  to  Jesus  the  whole  glory  of  their 
salvation,  acknowledging  no  merit  in  themselves 
which  could  possibly  interest  God  in  their  favour. 

At  the  same  time,  I  could  not  help  perceiving 
that  in  every  persuasion  (my  own  not  excepted) 
the  majority  were  Christians  only  in  name,  and  in 
reality  believed  in  God  no  more  than  the  professed 
free-thinker  believes  in  him.  For  this  one  thing  is 
certain.  If  they  did  really  believe  in  the  Bible, 
they  would  be  more  intent  upon  escaping  the  threat- 
enings  and  gaining  the  promises  of  the  Bible,  than 
they  are  upon  the  riches,  honour,  pleasures,  or  learn- 
ing of  this  world.  But  the  contrary  is  the  fact. 
They  are  more  intent  upon  the  riches,  honour,  plea- 
sures, or  learning  of  this  world,  than  upon  escaping 
the  threatenings,  or  gaining  the  promises,  of  the 
Bible.  Therefore,  they  do  not  believe  the  threaten- 
ings or  promises  of  the  Bil)le.     If  they  believed 


THE   TEST   OF  TliUTII.  151 

them,  tliey  would  act  upon  them.  By  not  acting 
upon  them,  they  prove  that  they  do  not  believe  them. 
To  believe  really  in  God,  is  to  be  convinced  that  he 
is  something  better  than  the  world,  and  better  than 
self.  It  implies  therefore  a  hearty  and  entire  renun- 
ciation of  the  World  and  self;  and  a  hearty  and 
entire  devotion  of  ourselves  to  God,  as  to  something 
incomparably  better. 

In  the  few  then  of  every  denomination,  I  recog- 
nized the  true  Church  of  Christ.  At  first  the  small 
number  of  real  Christians  perplexed  me,  and  I 
anxiously  exclaimed.  Are  there  §b  few  that  be  saved  ? 
But  I  remembered  that  even  this  circumstance  added 
its  testimony  to  the  veracity  of  the  Scripture  state- 
ment, which  always  represents  the  Church  of  Christ 
as  a  little  flock,^  exposed  to  the  hatred  and  derision 
of  the  larger  portion  of  mankind,  who  should  con- 
tinue obstinate  in  their  monstrous  rebellion  against 
the  Most  High.  Besides  this,  when  I  reflected  on 
the  mightiness  of  the  change  which  must  take  place 
in  every  sinner's  heart  before  he  could  sincerely  love 
God,  and  the  necessity  of  his  submitting  to  be  viewed 
with  contempt  and  disgust  by  many  w^ho  before  had 
loved  and  courted  him,  I  rather  marvelled  at  the 
miracle  of  divine  grace,  by  which  any  are  saved,  than 
inquired,  why  so  few?  But  I  found  from  the  pro- 
phetic writings  that  the  number  of  Christ's  enemies 
shall  not  always  exceed  that  of  his  friends.  The  time 
is  not  far  distant  when  "the  earth  shall  be  filled  with 
the  glory  of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea.'"' 

1  Luke  xii.  32.  ^  Isaiah  xi.  9. 


152  THE   TEST   OF   TKUTH. 

I  have  endeavoured  briefly  to  recapitulate  the 
chief  reflections  which  occurred  to  me  while  I  was 
reading  the  Bible,  with  the  help  (as  I  verily  believe) 
of  the  Spirit  of  Jesus.  From  that  time  I  have  con- 
tinued to  sit  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  and  to  hear  his 
word;  taking  him  for  my  Teacher  and  Guide  in 
things  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual.  He  has  found 
in  me  a  disciple  so  slow  of  comprehension,  so  prone 
to  forget  his  lessons  and  to  act  in  opposition  to  his 
commands,  that  were  he  not  infinitely  meek  and 
lowly  in  heart,  he  w^ould  long  ago  have  cast  me  off 
in  anger.  But  he  'still  continues  to  bear  with  me, 
and  to  give  me  line  upon  line,  and  precept  upon  pre- 
cept. And  I  am  certain  that  he  will  never  leave 
me  nor  forsake  me;  for  though  I  am  variable  and 
inconstant,  "with  him  there  is  no  variableness, 
neither  shadow  of  turning."  * 

In  narrating  the  means  by  which  I  was  draAvn 
forth  out  of  the  horrible  abyss  of  infidelity,  my 
design  has  been  to  give  some  idea  of  the  process, 
which  must  take  place  in  every  sinner's  heart,  before 
he  can  know,  or  desire  to  know,  the  God  who  gsa^e 
him  being.  And  thus  it  must  be  with  you.  You 
must  be  roused  to  a  lively  sense  of  the  importance 
of  knowing  God; — must  be  convinced  that  you 
have  hitherto  lived  in  a  state  of  blindness  and 
enmity  against  him : — you  must  learn  that  all  your 
fancied  wisdom  is  mere  folly  in  his  sight ;  and  must 
be  ready  to  receive  the  truth  as  God  is  pleased  to 
reveal  it.     Instead  of  insolently  dictating  the  way 

^  James  i.  17. 


THE    TEST    OF   TRUTH.  153 

in  ■svliich  God  shall  deal  with  his  offending  creature, 
you  must  lay  down  the  arms  of  your  rebellion,  and 
accept  of  pardon  and  peace  npon  his  terms.  When 
these  dispositions  are  wrought  in  your  heart  (and 
they  can  be  wrought  only  by  a  Divine  Power),  tlien 
the  Lord  will  reveal  himself  to  you,  show  you  the 
truth  of  his  Everlasting  Gospel,  and  bring  the  sal- 
vation of  Jesus  home  to  your  heart.  I  ask  you  not  to 
believe  any  thing  upon  my  word.  That  were  indeed 
foolish,  when  you  cannot  take  it  upon  God's  word. 
But  I  beseech  you  to  make  trial  of  God's  word. 
Reject  it  not  till  you  have  put  it  to  the  test  I  have 
proposed  to  you.  Examine  thus  for  yourselves. 
Know  whether  the  God  of  Scripture  be,  as  he  is 
there  styled,  "the  God  who  heareth  prayer."  And 
we,  "who  have  tasted  that  the  Lord  is  gracious," 
will  not  cease  to  pray  for  you,  that  "the  God 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father  of  Glory,  may 
give  unto  you  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation 
in  the  knowledge  of  him :  the  eyes  of  your  under- 
standing being  enlightened,  that  ye  may  know  wljat 
is^he  hope  of  his  calling,  and  what  the  riches  of 
the  glory  of  his  inheritance  in  the  saints;  and  what 
is  the  exceeding  greatness  of  his  power  to  us-ward 
who  believe,  according  to  the  working  of  His  Mighty 
Power."     Amen. — Eph.  i.  17-19. 


THE  FREENESS  OF  GRACE 


THE  FREENESS  OF  GRACE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ON    ORIGINAL   SIN. 


An  obscure  or  imperfect  view  of  one  doctrine 
often  leads  to  the  rejection  of  another.  Thus  I 
have  always  found,  that  those  who  conscientiously 
reject  the  doctrine  of  election,  do  so  from  an  inabil- 
ity to  take  into  the  account  the  absolutely  free  and 
unconditional  nature  of  God's  grace  in  pardoning 
sinners ;  and  I  believe  the  clearness  of  our  views  of 
this  latter  doctrine  to  be,  in  most  cases,  commensu- 
rate with  our  deep  and  abiding  conviction  of  man's 
utter  and  original  depravity. 

This  may  happen  to  real  Christians.  A  person 
may  see  enough  of  the  sin  of  his  heart  and  life,  to 
come  heartily  to  Christ  for  salvation,  and  yet  he 
may  not  be  so  deeply  convinced  of  his  entire  ruin 
in  the  fall,  and  of  the  desperate  wickedness  and 
utter  helplessness  of  his  nature  from  the  very  woml), 
as  to  perceive  the  justice,  or  even  the  necessity,  of 
the  doctrine  of  election. 

14  157 


158  ON   ORIGINAL   SIN. 

Yet  a  very  clear  conviction  of  our  natural  enmity 
against  God,  and  of  our  entire  inability  to  seek  or 
to  choose  any  thing  that  is  good,  plainly  involves 
with  it  a  conviction  that  if  we  love  God  it  must  be 
because  he  first  loved  us ;  that  if  we  choose  Christ 
and  his  ways  at  all,  it  can  be  ascribed  to  no  other 
cause  than  that  he  first  chose  us, — or,  in  other  words, 
that  we  are  elect,  according  to  the  foreknowledge 
of  God. 

Such  being  my  view  of  the  case,  I  entreat  my 
reader's  attention  while  I  say  a  few  words  on  the 
doctrine  of  original  sin.  It  is  the  very  first  lesson 
in  the  school  of  Christ;  and  it  is  only  by  being  well 
rooted  and  grounded  in  these  first  principles  that 
we  can  hope  to  go  on  to  perfection.  The  doctrine 
is  written  in  Scripture  as  with  a  sunbeam.  If  we 
do  not  feel  some  conviction  of  it  in  our  own  hearts, 
it  aflTords  a  sad  proof  that  we  still  belong  to  that 
"  generation  that  is  pure  in  their  own  eyes,  and  yet 
is  not  washed  from  their  filthiness."  ^  "  All  the  ways 
of  a  man  are  clean  in  his  own  eyes,  but  the  Lord 
weigheth  the  spirits."  ^  With  him  a  high  look,  and 
a  proud  heart,  an  idle  word,  and  a  light  thought,  is 
sin.  His  law  is  spiritual,  reaching  to  every  thought 
and  intent  of  the  heart.  "Whosoever  shall  keep 
the  whole  law,  and  yet  ofl^end  in  one  point,  he  is 
guilty  of  all."' 

If  then  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin,  we  make  God 
a  liar ;  but  if  we  allow  that  we  sin  at  all,  then  must 
we  allow  that  our  whole  nature  is  sinful  and  corrupt. 

^  Prov.  XXX.  12.  2  Prov.  xvi.  2.  ^  James  ii.  10. 


ON    ORIGINAL   SIN.  159 

At  least  our  Saviour  thought  so.  He  declares  that 
corrupt  fruit  only  can  come  from  a  corrupt  tree: 
corrupt  doings,  of  a  corrupt  nature.  "A  good  tree 
cannot  bring  forth  evil  fruit,  neither  can  a  corrupt 
tree  bring  forth  good  fruit."  ^  As  if  our  blessed 
Saviour  had  said,  *'Be  consistent;  either  say  at  once 
that  ye  know  no  sin,  or  if  indeed  conscience  wit- 
nesses that  ye  do  sin  every  day  and  every  hour  of 
your  lives,  then  confess  that  your  corrupt  doings 
proceed  from  a  nature  inherently  corrupt.  If  your 
nature  were  a  good,  a  holy  nature,  it  could  not  be 
thus  continually  putting  forth  the  evil  fruit  of  unholy 
actions.  The  clusters  that  bow  down  the  branches 
of  the  vine  may  become  less  luxuriant,  but  still  they 
are  grapes ;  no  change  of  season  or  of  climate  can 
cause  it  to  teem  with  the  unsightly  fruit  of  the 
bramble,  or  the  tasteless  berries  of  the  thorn.  Look 
then  no  longer  for  any  thing  good  in  yourselves ;  it 
is  to  look  for  grapes  on  thorns,  or  figs  on  thistles. 
Once  I  had  planted  you  a  noble  vine,  wholly  a  right 
seed ;  but  now  are  ye  turned  to  the  degenerate  plant 
of  a  strange  vine  unto  me.  The  parent  stock  be- 
came corrupt,  and  spread  corruption  through  all  its 
branches.  One  only  hope  remains  for  you.  Con- 
fess your  sin  and  misery,  and  seek  to  be  grafted, 
contrary  to  nature,  into  me  the  true  vine:  thus 
abiding  in  me,  and  I  in  you,  ye,  who  in  yourselves 
can  do  nothing,  shall  in  me  bear  much  and  good 
fruit."  The  fountain  of  humanity  has  been  poisoned 
at  its  very  head,  and  will  bring  forth  nothing  but 

1  Matt.  vii.  18. 


160  ON    ORIGINAL   SIN. 

pollution :  "  the  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things, 
and  desperately  wicked;"^  out  of  it  flow,  as  from 
their  natural  source,  evil  thoughts,  adulteries,  mur- 
ders, and  all  that  train  of  corruptions  mentioned  by 
our  Lord  in  Mark  vii.  21,  22.  "Good  Master,  what 
shall  I,  do  to  inherit  eternal  life?  Why  callest  thou 
me  good  ?  There  is  none  good  but  one,  that  is  God."  ^ 
These  words  of  our  Lord  again  seem  to  imply,  "  Be 
consistent;  either  admit  that  I  am  God,  or  if  you 
will  have  it  that  I  am  but  a  mere  man  like  yourself, 
then  ascribe  no  goodness  to  me;  for  know  that  in 
man  dwelleth  no  good  thing."  "Suppose  ye  that 
these  Galileans  were  sinners  above  all  the  Galileans 
because  they  suffered  such  things?  I  tell  you  nay; 
but  except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise  perish."' 
"That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh.*  They 
that  are  in  the  flesh  cannot  please  God."-"*  Why  so? 
Because  "the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God, 
for  it  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed 
can  be."^  O  how  the  very  opinions  of  men  on  this 
subject  prove  the  depth  of  their  blindness  and  per- 
verseness!  that  they  ^vill  persist  in  saying,  "I  am 
rich  and  increased  with  goods,  and  have  need  of 
nothing:"  w^hen  He  wdio  trieth  the  heart  and  reins 
has  afiirmed  of  them  that  they  are  "wretched,  and 
poor,  and  miserable,  and  blind,  and  naked."  ^ 

The  Scripture  history  of  man  opens  with  these 
words,  "  And  God  said,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  own 
image,  after  our  likeness.     So  God  created  man  in 

1  Jer.  xvii.  9.      2  Mark  x.  17.     ^  Luke  xiii.  2,  3.       ^  John  iii.  6. 
5  lioin.  viii.  8.  ^  Rom.  viii.  7.  '  llcv.  iii.  17. 


ON    ORIGINAL   SIN.  161 

his  own  image;  in  the  image  of  God  created  he 
him."^  "God  is  a  spirit;"^  it  must,  therefore,  have 
been  in  his  spiritual  image  that  man  was  created. 
In  holiness,  in  happiness,  in  knowledge,  such  as 
become  his  state, — in  these  things  man  resembled 
his  Maker. 

Now,  it  is  veiy  remarkable  that  after  the  fall, 
we  are  expressly  told,  that  "Adam  begat  a  son  in 
his  own  likeness  after  his  image,"  ^  that  is,  as  unlike 
the  original  holy  image  of  God  as  darkness  is  to 
light,  or  corruption  to  incorruption.  For  would  we 
ascertain  from  the  mouth  of  God  himself,  what  man 
was  then  like,  let  us  go  a  chapter  or  two  further, 
and  we  shall  find  the  Lord  looking  down  upon  his 
ruined  creation,  upon  those  things  which  his  hand 
had  made,  and  which  he  had  once  pronounced  to  be 
very  good. 

Now  "God  looked  upon  the  earth,  and  behold  it 
w^as  corrupt;  for  all  flesh  had  corrupted  his  way 
upon  the  earth;*  and  God  saw  that  the  wickedness 
of  man  was  great  in  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagi- 
nation of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  was  only  evil 
continually."  ^  Can  the  Spirit  of  truth  testify  of  our 
character  in  pkainer  or  in  stronger  terms? 

But  lest  those  who  resist  even  the  Spirit  wheji  his 
words  would  convince  them  of  sin,  should  object 
that  this  description  is  only  applied  to  the  wicked 
generation  that  was  swept  away  by  the  flood,  God 
has  provided  against  this  subterfuge. 

1  Gen.  i.  25,  27.  2  John  iv.  24.  »  Gen.  v.  3. 

4  Gen.  vi.  12.  ^  Gen.  vi.  5, 


162  ON   ORIGINAL   SIN. 

The  windows  of  heaven  are  stopped;  the  rain 
from  heaven  is  restrained ;  the  waters  return  from 
off  the  earth;  and  the  ark  rests  upon  the  mountains 
of  Ararat.  Eight  chosen  persons,  the  remains  of 
the  once  countless  multitude,  come  forth  from  this 
hiding-place  of  the  Lord's  providing,  and  join  to- 
gether in  a  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving  which  rises  up 
as  a  sweet-smelling  savour  before  God.^  Let  us 
pause  a  moment  to  see  what  we  can  collect  from 
Scripture  concerning  the  persons  who  knelt  around 
the  family  altar.  One  of  them  is  cited  as  a  pattern 
of  holiness  throughout  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
We  learn  but  little  of  his  three  sons :  yet  an  act  of 
filial  piety  is  recorded  of  two  of  them  which,  to- 
gether with  the  blessing  of  their  inspired  father, 
mark  them,  in  our  esteem,  for  holy  men.  Nothing 
is  told  us  concerning  their  wives :  yet  we  may  not 
unfiiirly  suppose  that  out  of  this  little  female  rem- 
nant there  would  be  some  who,  like  their  husbands 
and  father,  walked  with  God.  So  that  we  have 
here  eight  persons,  of  whom  we  know  that  three 
were  good,  and  we  know  only  of  one  who  was  wicked. 
Now  it  was  upon  this  very  occasion,  in  which  the  sweet 
savour  of  this  very  sacrifice  was  ascending  before 
God,  that  he  said,  "1  will  not  again  curse  the  ground 
any  more  for  man's  sake;  for  the  imagination  of 
man's  heart  is  evil  from  his  youth."  ^  AVhat,  still  evilf 
Still  does  the  Holy  Ghost  bear  his  testimony  against 
man?  Yet  not  one  of  all  that  rebellious  generation 
remains.  Mankind  is  reduced  to  an  exceeding  small 
1  Gen.  viii.  20,  21.  2  Gen.  viii.  21. 


ON    ORIGINAL   SIN.  163 

compass.  Never  has  the  earth  been  so  purified. 
Never  since  has  it  contained  so  select  an  assembly  as 
that  which  we  are  now  considering.  Yet  still — still 
the  character  of  man  is  thus  given  by  Him  ivho  can- 
not lie.  "The  imagination  of  man's  heart  is  evil 
from  his  youth:" — the  heart  of  the  righteous  Noah, 
no  less  than  that  of  the  ungodly  Ham ;  for  had  there 
been  an  exception  in  so  small  a  circle,  the  Judge  of 
the  whole  earth  would  not  have  included  them  all 
in  the  same  sweeping  accusation.  Moreover,  he  de- 
clares that  the  heart  of  man  ivill  be  always  evil:  for 
that  is  the  very  reason  he  gives  why  he  will  curse 
the  ground  no  more  for  man's  sake.  He  does  not 
say,  "I  w^ill  not  do  it  again,  because  they  will  im- 
prove—^their  hearts  will  grow  better;"  but,  "I  will 
do  so  no  more,  because  the  heart  of  man  is  evil  from 
his  youth."  Not  all  the  waters  of  the  flood  can  wash 
out  the  guilty  stain  which  Adam  has  entailed  upon 
his  children — not  all  the  waters  of  the  flood  can 
cleanse  the  earth,  so  long  as  one  of  Adam's  sin-defiled 
race  shall  remain  upon  its  surface.  And  to  this 
day,  if  we  had  no  other  witness  to  testify  against  us 
that  our  hearts  are  evil,  yet  have  we  an  accusing 
monitor  in  the  clouds,  even  the  bow  of  the  covenant 
which  God  has  set  there  for  a  sign  to  us,  that  he  will 
not  in  our  days  bring  the  waters  to  cover  the  earth; 
because  the  imaginations  of  the  thoughts  of  our 
hearts  are  evil — only  evil — evil  continually — evil  from 
our  youth.  The  Hebrew  word  rendered  imaginations 
is,  as  we  learn  from  the  marginal  notes,  much 
stronger  than  the  interpretation  conveys  an  idea  of, 


164  ON    ORIGINAL   SIN. 

since  it  signifies  the  whole  intents,  purposes,  and 
desires  of  the  heart. 

Would  we  know  the  reason  of  this  indelible  pol- 
lution, which  fallen  man  has  transmitted  to  his 
latest  descendants?  let  that  given  by  Scripture 
suffice : — ^'Who  can  bring  a  clean  thing  out  of  an 
unclean?  not  one."^  But  is  not  the  new-born  babe 
innocent?  Yes,  from  the  commission  of  actual  sin, 
but  not  from  the  pollution  of  a  nature  altogether 
sinful ;  for  who  can  bring  a  clean  thing  out  of  an 
unclean?  "Death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all 
have  sinned."^  Why  then  is  death  so  often  com- 
missioned to  snatch  away  the  babe  in  the  first  hour 
of  its  existence? — why,  but  because  that  babe  is  a 
sinful  creature?  Sin,  that  root  of  bitterness,  has 
already  shot  its  fibres  into  the  inmost  soul.  That 
infant,  "born  of  the  flesh,  is  flesh," ^  and  "as  such 
cannot  please  God"* — cannot  bring  forth  any  other 
than  the  accursed  fruits  of  the  flesh.  As  surely  as 
the  cockatrice'  egg  will  hatch  into  a  viper,  so  surely 
Vvill  the  babe  born  of  unclean  parents  be  itself  un- 
cleanj  so  surely  it  will  be  "by  nature  a  child  of 
wrath,  even  as  others."  ^  And  therefore  it  is  as  the 
apostle  tells  us,  that  "Death  reigneth  over  all,  even 
over  all  them  that  have  not  sinned  after  the  simili- 
tude of  Adam's  transgression."  ^  I  entertain  not  a 
doubt  that  these  little  ones  are  redeemed  by  the 
blood  of  Jesus;  but  that  they  need  redemption,  that 
they  are  sinners, — children  of  wrath  by  nature,— 

1  Job  xiv.  4.  '^  Rom.  v.  IL'.  »  .L.hn  iii.  6. 

*  Rom.  viii.  8.  5  Ephes.  ii.  3.  ^  Horn.  v.  14. 


ON    ORIGINAL   SIN.  165 

of  this  truth  I  am  equally  Avell  assured,  and  every 
little  mound  in  the  churchyard  seems  to  have  a 
voice  that  tells  me  .so. 

The  baptism  of  infants  is  a  striking  recognition 
of  their  ruined  and  sinful  state  by  nature;  for  what 
is  baptism  but  a  sign  of  the  washing  away  of  the 
filth  of  our  polluted  nature? 

Let  not  any  one  so  far  misunderstand  me  as  to 
suppose  that  I  think  baptism  is  any  thing  more  than 
the  outward  sign  of  regeneration,  or  the  washing  away 
of  the  filth  of  the  flesh:  though  I  believe  that  if  we 
carry  little  children  in  faith  to  Jesus,  we  have  every 
reason  to  hope  that  he  will  receive  them  in  his  arms 
and  bless  them  with  the  inward  grace.  But  my  object 
here  is  solely  to  point  out  how  in  the  baptism  of  in- 
fants is  acknowledged  the  doctrine  of  original  sin. 

The  Holy  Ghost  has  instructed  the  apostle  to  give 
us  such  a  full  comment  upon  the  spiritual  death  we 
all  die  in  Adam,  that  w^e  cannot  too  often  read  and 
pray  over  the  following  passages,  Rom.  v.  12,  21 ; 
1  Cor.  XV.  21,  22,  45,  49;  Ephes.  iv.  22,  24;  Col.  iii. 
9,  10 ;  there  are  many  others  in  which  our  nature  in 
Adam  is  spoken  of,  in  contradistinction  to  the  new 
and  holy  nature  we  receive  in  Christ  Jesus. 

The  Scripture  is  so  full  of  testimonies  to  this  im- 
portant truth,  that  it  seems  to  mingle  with  every 
other  doctrine,  and  serves  as  a  kind  of  master-key 
to  unlock  every  other  mystery.  Take  away  this, 
and  the  Redeemer  loses  half  his  praise ;  the  types 
and  sacrifices  of  the  law  lose  half  their  significancy; 
for  they  shadow  forth  the  sin  of  our  nature,  as  well 


166  ON    ORIGINAL   SIN. 

as  our  actual  transgressions,  and  Jesus  came  to  de- 
liver us  from  the  guilt  of  our  nature  as  well  as  from 
the  evil  of  our  lives.  Oh,  Avhat  an  unmeaning  heap 
of  words  has  been  handed  down  to  us  in  the  law  of 
Moses,  the  Psalms  of  David,  the  confessions  of  Ezra, 
Nehemiah,  Job,  Daniel,  Jeremiah,  and  the  rest  of 
God's  saints,  if  that  evil  nature  which  caused  them 
to  groan  did  not  really  exist !  Above  all,  what  shall 
we  make  of  Romans  iii.  and  vii.  ?  What  shall  we 
understand  by  the  conflict  between  the  flesh  and  the 
sjoirit,  between  the  old  man  and  the  new  man,  be- 
tween the  carnal  and  spiritual  affections?  Was  St. 
Paul  dreaming  when  he  said,  "I  know  that  in  me, 
that  is,  in  my  flesh,  dwelleth  no  good  thing"  ?^  Was 
he  beside  himself  when  he  declared  "  that  he  found 
in  himself  a  law,  that  when  he  would  do  good,  evil 
was  present  with  him"?'^  That  though  by  divine 
grace  he  had  learnt  "to  delight  in  the  law  of  God 
after  the  inward  man,  yet  still  he  saw  another  law 
in  his  members,  warring  against  the  law  of  his  mind, 
and  bringing  him  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin 
which  was  in  his  members"?'  The  apostle  of  the 
Gentiles,  "  who  laboured  more  abundantly  than  they 
all;"*  he  who  "had  been  caught  up  to  the  third 
heaven,  and  heard  unspeakable  words  which  it  was 
not  lawful  for  him  to  utter" ^  amongst  sinful  men; 
he  who  "counted  all  things  but  dung,  that  he  might 
win  Christ;"^  he  who  was  "ready,  not  only  to  be 
bound,  but  also  to  die  fot  the  name  of  the  Lord 

1  Rom.  vii.  18.  '^  Rom.  vii.  21.  ^  ii^m.  vji,  22,  23. 

4  1  Cor.  XV.  10.  5  2  Cor.  xii.  2,  4.         6  phil.  iii.  8. 


ON    ORIGi:^AL   SIN.  167 

Jesus;"'  this  chosen  vessel  of  mercy,  full  of  zeal 
and  full  of  love,  and  under  the  immediate  inspiration 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  so  groaned  under  the  burden  of 
the  original  corruption  of  his  nature,  the  law  of  sin 
warring  in  his  members,  that  he  was  compelled  to 
cry  out,  "  O  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who  shall  de- 
liver me  from  the  body  of  this  death?'"  And  from 
the  time  of  Paul  there  has  never  been  a  real  Chris- 
tian who  has  not  often  felt  himself  constrained  to 
adopt  his  language,  and  to  say,  in  the  language  of 
his  soul,  "Who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of 
this  death?"  The  remedy,  as  is  usual  in  Scripture, 
follows  close  upon  the  complaint:  "I  thank  God 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." ' 

In  this  epistle,  the  Holy  Ghost  is  seen  peculiarly 
to  fulfil  his  sacred  office.  He  shall  convince  of  sin, 
of  righteousness,  and  of  justification.  How  strong 
is  the  language  in  which  he  presses  the  first  con- 
demning testimony  home  to  our  shrinking  conscious 
'bosoms!  How  sweet  and  clear  the  second  part  of 
his  testimony,  when  he  takes  of  the  righteousness 
of  Jesus  and  shows  it  to  us,  yea,  tells  us  that  it  is 
ours,  if  we  will  cease  to  go  about  to  establish  our 
own !  And  when  he  is  fulfilling  the  third  part  of  his 
mission,  with  what  triumphant  energy  has  he  in- 
spired the  apostle  to  unfold  to  us  how  we  are  justified 
freely  by  his  grace,  acquitted  so  that  none  can  lay 
aught  to  our  charge,  not  Satan  himself,  that  accuser 
of  the  brethren ;  for  the  prince  of  this  world  is 
judged,  Satan  bruised  under  our  feet! 
1  Acts  xxi.  13.  2  Rom.  vii.  13.  »  Rom.  vii.  25. 


168  .ON    ORIGINAL   SIN. 

But  to  return  to  my  subject:  "We  have  before 
proved  both  Jews  and  Gentiles  that  they  are  all 
under  sin,  as  it  is  written,  There  is  none  righteous, 
no,  not  one:  there  is  none  that  understaudeth,  there 
is  none  that  seeketh  after  God,  they  are  all  gone  out 
of  the  way,  they  are  together  become  unprofitable, 
there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no,  not  one.  Their 
throat  is  an  open  sepulchre;  with  their  tongues  they 
have  used  deceit;  the  poison  of  asps  is  under  their 
lips;  whose  mouth  is  full  of  cursing  and  bitterness; 
their  feet  are  swift  to  shed  blood;  destruction  and 
misery  are  in  their  ways ;  and  the  way  of  peace  have 
they  not  known ;  there  is  no  fear  of  God  before  their 
eyes."  Romans  iii.  9-17;  which  compare  v/ith 
Psalm  liii.  .Now,  since  God  the  Spirit  knew  the 
hearts  of  his  creatures,  and  has  given  this  as  a  faith- 
ful portrait  of  the  real  character  of  every  individual 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth;  it  follows  that  all  have 
that  original  sin,  which  is  the  fruitful  source  of  all 
evil  actions  and  dispositions. 

IVe  have  now  brought  our  testimony  from  the 
"three  that  bear  witness  in  heaven," — having  heard 
from  God  the  Father,  that  the  imagination  of  man's 
heart  is  only  evil  from  his  youth ; — from  God  the 
Son,  that  out  of  the  heart  of  man  come  evil  thoughts, 
blasphemy,  pride,  foolishness ;  that  the  corrupt  heart, 
like  a  corrupt  tree,  can  only  bring  forth  corrupt  fruit ; 
— and  from  God  the  Spirit,  that  the  carnal  mind  is 
enmity  against  God ;  that  in  us  dwelleth  no  good  thing. 

Now,  as  to  all  those  vain  and  curious  questions 
which  men,  who  would  be  wise  above  that  which  is 


ON    ORIGINAL   SIN.  -  169 

written,  have  raised  on  the  nature  and  causes  of 
original  sin,  and  how  it  is  conveyed  from  Adam  to 
his  fallen  race — with  all  these  I  would  have  nothing 
to  do.  All  I  want  to  insist  upon,  is  the  doctrine  as 
it  stands  in  every  part  of  the  Bible;  and  as  it  is  exempli- 
fied in  the  heart  of  every  individual  upon  the  face  of 
the  earth.  In  our  own  heart  we  cannot  but  find  it,  if 
we  will  let  conscience  do  its  office.  Let,  then,  "  every 
mouth  be  stopped,  and  all  the  world  become  guilty 
before  God."^  Let  us  pray  that  the  Spirit  of  truth 
would  convince  of  what  is  written  in  the  Word  of 
Truth — that  he  would  make  "  the  burden  of  original 
sin  grievous  and  intolerable"  to  us:  for  till  we  thus 
perceive  the  truth,  so  as  really  to  groan  under  the 
weight  of  our  corrupt  nature,  we  shall  not  discover 
the  necessity  of  that  new  and  holy  nature,  without 
which  we  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of  God.  "They 
that  be  whole  need  not  a  physician.""^  They  that 
be  righteous  desire  not  a  Saviour.  They  that  ac- 
knowledge sin  in  2:)art,  but  not  that  they  are  u'holly 
depraved — estranged  from  the  womb, — these,  not  con- 
scious that  the  whole  garment  is  spotted  by  the  flesh, 
will  seek  to  patch  new  cloth  on  the  old  garment,  and 
so  will  but  make  the  rent  worse :  they  will  seek  to 
put  the  new  wine  into  old  bottles — and  what  wonder 
if  the  old  bottles  burst,  and  the  wine  run  out,  and 
the  bottles  perish?  No — the  whole  man  must  be 
renewed;  and  such  as  feel  not  their  need  of  this 
thorough  renovation  have  not  yet  made  the  first 
step  towards  the  possession  of  eternal  life.  For  how 
1  Roin.  iii.  19.  2  Matt.  ix.  12. 

15 


170  ON    ORIGINAL   SIN. 

can  we  be  alive  to  God  without  knowing  that  we  were 
once  "  dead  in  sins"  ?  ^  How  be  restored  to  the  Shep- 
herd of  our  souls,  without  knowing  that  by  nature 
we  were  as  sheep  going  astray?^  How  become  chil- 
dren of  grace,  and  yet  not  know  that  we  "were  by 
nature  children  of  wrath  even  as  others"?^  What 
should  we  think  of  the  man,  who  was  born  blind, 
if,  when  he  was  restored  to  sight,  he  had  professed  to 
be  ignorant  that  he  was  born  blind?  This  cannot 
be  :  therefore  as  in  nature,  so  in  grace.  Those  who 
have  been  really  converted  from  a  state  of  nature, 
all  join  in  their  confessions  of  that  state.  I  was 
blind;  but  now  I  see.  I  was  dead;  but  now  I  am 
alive.  I  was  lost;  but  now  am  found.  Nor  do  they 
think  they  can  too  often  revive  their  sense  of  God's 
goodness  and  their  own  misery,  by  thus  looking 
back  to  "  the  rock  from  whence  they  were  hewn — to 
the  hole  of  the  pit  from  which  they  were  digged."* 
I  conclude  this  subject  in  the  words  of  one  of  the 
brightest  luminaries  of  the  Church — he  has  been 
called  the  judicious  Hooker:  had  he  lived  in  the 
present  age  a  far  different  title  would  have  been 
allotted  to  him ;  for  he  is,  of  all  authors  I  ever  read, 
the  most  full  and  decisive  upon  what  are  called  Cal- 
vinistic  doctrines.  "  It  may  seem  something  extreme 
which  I  will  speak:  therefore  let  every  one  judge  it 
as  his  own  heart  shall  tell  him,  and  no  otherwise. 
I  will  but  only  make  a  demand, — if  God  should 
yield  unto  us,  not  as  he  did  unto  Abraham,  if  fifty, 
forty,  thirty:  yea,  or  if  ten  good  persons  could  be 

1  Ephes.  ii.  1,  5.      2  Isaiah  liii.  6.     3  Ephes.  ii.  3.      *  Isaiah  li.  1. 


ON    FREE    GRACE.  171 

found  in  a  city,  for  their  sakes  this  city  should  not 
be  destroyed:  but  and  if  he  should  make  us  an 
offer  thus  large — search  all  the  generations  of  men 
since  the  fall  of  our  father  Adam;  find  one  man 
that  hath  done  one  action  which  hath  passed  from 
him  pure  without  any  stain  or  blemish  at  all ;  and 
for  that  one  man's  only  action,  neither  man  nor 
angel  shall  feel  the  torments  prej)ared  for  both.  Do 
you  think  that  this  ransom  to  deliver  men  and 
angels  could  be  found  to  be  among  the  sons  of 
men?" 


CHAPTER  II. 

ON   FREE    GRACE. 


The  principal  arguments  drawn  from  Scripture 
against  the  absolute  freeness  of  Divine  grace  in 
pardon,  justification,  and  sanctification  of  sinners, 
are  such  as  these :  that  the  threats  and  promises  of 
the  gospel  are  usually  expressed  in  a  conditional 
form;  and  that  grace  is  promised  to  all  who  dili' 
gently  seek  for  it:  this  seeking  then  becomes  a  sort 
of  meritorious  act,  by  which  we  attract  the  notice 
or  favour  of  God,  and  induce  him  to  give  us  his 
grace.  We  will  endeavour  to  examine  each  of  these 
arguments  separately. 

And  first,  it  must  be  allowed  that  there  is  a  sense 
in  which  both  the  threats  and  promises  of  the  gospel 
are  conditional.     As  to  the  former  of  these,  "the 


172  ON   FREE   GRACE. 

soul  that  siniieth,  it  shall  die:"^  "cursed  is  every- 
one that  continueth  not  in  all  things  which  are  writ- 
ten in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them :"  ^  "  whoso- 
ever shall  keep  the  whole  law  and  yet  offend  in  one 
point,  he  is  guilty  of  all."  ^  These  are  some  of  the 
threats  of  that  "God  who  is  a  consuming  fire."* 
And  surely  we  have  abundantly  fulfilled  the  con- 
ditions to  which  they  are  attached.  Death — even 
the  death  of  the  soul — is  our  well-earned  wages.  The 
curse  is  our  natural  inheritance.  We  are  born  to 
it:  for  we  are  conceived  in  sin — we  are  shapen  in 
iniquity — we  go  astray  as  soon  as  Ave  are  born, 
speaking  lies ;  and  every  day,  and  every  hour,  and 
every  moment,  do  we  confirm  our  right  and  title  to 
this  inheritance;  deserving,  both  by  nature  and 
practice,  the  fulfilment  of  every  one  of  the  heavy 
threats  of  that  God  w^ho  cannot  lie.  Now,  I  would 
ask,  what  efforts  of  our  own  can  rescue  us  from  the 
fulfilment  of  these  threatenings,  since  we  are  debtors 
to  do  the  whole  law?  and  if  we  offend  in  one  point, 
we  are  guilty  of  all;  and  cursed  are  we  if  we  con- 
tinue not  in  all  things  written  in  the  book  of  the  law 
to  do  them.  We  can  but  deserve  them  over  and 
over.  Oh,  talk  not  of  conditions — tliese  are  the  con- 
ditions  !  We  have  done  our  part — have  irretrievably 
ruined  ourselves.  We  owe  ten  thousand  talents,  and 
have  nothing  to  pay! 

But  Christ  has  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the 
law,  being  made  a  curse  for  us.  "  Through  this  man 
is  preached  unto  you  the  forgiveness  of  sins:  and 

1  Ezekiel  xviii.  20.     2^^1.111.10.     3  james  ii.  10.    .-»  Deut.  iv.  24. 


ON    FREE   GRACE.  173 

by  him  all  that  believe  are  justified  from  all  things."^ 
Pie,  and  he  only,  has  borne  the  threats  of  God  in  his 
people's  stead;  and  he  has  borne  them  so  completely 
away,  that  they  shall  never  be  mentioned  to  believers 
any  more.  Their  sins  have  been  transferred  to 
Jesus.  "He  himself  bare  them  in  his  own  body  on 
the  tree."  ^  Infinite  justice  has  been  appeased  by  an 
infinitely  complete  satisfaction,'  and  now  (oh,  let  us 
lift  up  our  hearts  in  gratitude  unspeakable)  "God 
can  be  just,  and  the  justifier  of  him  which  believcth 
in  Jesus."  *  Thus,  if  we  believe  in  Jesus,  we  escape 
the  threatened  curse  of  God,  not  because  tve  have 
fulfilled  one  single  condition,  by  which  we  might 
have  escaped  it,  but  simply  and  solely  because  Jesus 
has  borne  the  curse  for  us.  He  has  borne  it  all,  and 
he  has  borne  it  alo7ie.  His  almighty  shoulders  have 
sustained  the  entire  weight  of  the  curse,  one  tittle 
of  which  had  been  sufiicient  to  grind  the  whole  human 
race  to  powder.  He  has  "blotted  out  the  hand- 
writing of  ordinances  that  was  against  us,  which 
was  contrary  to  us,  and  taken  it  out  of  the  way, 
nailing  it  to  his  cross." ^  And  now,  "Who  shall 
lay  any  thing  to  the  charge  of  God's  elect?  It  is 
God  that  justifieth.  Who  is  he  that  condemneth? 
It  is  Christ  that  died,  yea,  rather,  that  is  risen 
again,"  ^  thus  proving  that  all  is  paid;  for  having 
once  as  our  surety  taken  upon  himself  our  mighty 
debt,  we  may  rest  satisfied  that  justice  did  not  let 
him  go  until  he  had  paid  the  uttermost  farthing. 

1  Actd  xiii.  38,  39.  ^  1  Peter  ii.  21. 

3  John  i.  7;  ii.  1,  3;  Heb.  ix.  14;  x.  12-18. 
"  Rom.  ill.  26.  &  Col.  ii.  14.  6  Rom.  viii.  33.  34. 

15^;^ 


17  \  0\    VMVV    ^\V^\VV 


Cousivlor  tUo  v>rosv<  of  Clunsl;  who  it  was  (hnt  suf- 
tvixni: — "Tho  mighiv  luui,  tho  OYorlav^tiviu"  l\»tl\or. 
tho  Trinoo  of  IVuvv." '  //oir  ho  v^ulVoroii : — "  hoU\>Ki 
aiul  soo  it'  ll\oiv  bo  any  sorrow  liko  uwto  tuy  }Jv>nx>NV."* 
Uoiuombor  that  Christ  oruoitiovl  iv^  "iho  \\isih>i\\  ot' 
Ctod  and  tho  powor  of  t»od  :""*  aiul  ihon  say.  wouKl 
this  u\iirhty  phiu  havo  boon  ilovisod  \o  avort  tho 
oui'so  iVom  man.  if  ho  had  boon  ablo  by  any  otlbrts 
of  his  own  to  osoapo  it?  Uut  thoro  aro  tha**o  who 
\villiniily  allow  that  i'hrist  has  iKmo  d  ymii  dmt 
towards  savinu"  thoiu  from  tho  wrath  to  oi>tno,  but 
not  that  ho  has  tiotio  (}.7.  It  must  bo  a  Uiiiil  i>f  joint 
?onoorn,  ii\  whioh  ho  has  oUiiUjiXMl  to  pay  a  pari,  if 
wo  pay  tho  rost.  His  salvation  is  roi^ardoil  as  a  sort 
o(  rosorvo  to  mako  up  dotioionoios.  Truo,  ho  diod 
for  us.  but  thon  hy  nwist  mrrit  by  roj^ontauoo  tliat  hid 
doath  bo  appliovl  to  us:  wo  n\nst  do  what  ur  oan  to 
appoaso  (.lod's  jusli^w  .and  ho  will  ihrow  his  blood 
into  tlio  soalo  to  nuiko  up  tho  rost. 

I  do  sii\ooroly  boliovo  that  o(  all  tho  dolusions 
whirh  Satan  has  suooivnlod  in  puttiu;;'  into  tho  ho;ir(i< 
ot'  nuMi,  ot'  all  his  snbilo  I'onirivaiu'os  to  rob  Christ 
of  his  Lvlory,  this  is  tho  tnastorinooo.  For  of  Satan's 
othor  tloviooswo  aro  loss  i^nvn-ant.  but  this  ono  ofton 
oojuos  to  us  dri^ssod  up  iu  suoh  a  sp.H'iiMis  shapo.  as 
to  "doooivo,  if  possibK\  tho  vory  v^loot."*  Many  to 
wlunn  tho  absuniity  of  purohasin*;-  hoavon  by  thoir 
own  uoi>d  works  is  sutliiiontly  ovivlont:  whi>  sot*  that 
pardon  is  bou;:hl  with  tho  pi'ooions  bh^nl  ol' Christ; 
aro  vol  oapablo  oi'   tho  still    unvitor  absurdity  oi' 


»    l>;iinh   iv     Ik      ''   l.^nu     I     1"        ■•    1    t 


ON    FJCKK    (ifiACi..  175 

thinking  to  huy  t}»at  prcciouH  hJood  which  i.H  a/yO'^ 
all  price,  with  the  poor  irnperi'fcct  offer  of  a  few  Hi;^li« 
and  tearn  which  they  call  ropcritanco.  And  wfuit 
Ih  thin  repentance?  A  Ian  I  they  have,  never  repented 
at  all,  if  they  be  not  ready  from  the  heart  to 
acknowledge;,  with  the  excellent  Jiinhop  Beveridge, 
"I  cannot  ho  jnuch  an  confenn  my  ninn,  but  rny  very 
confeHHionH  are  an  aggravation  of  them ;  my  repent- 
ance need.s  to  be  ref)ented  of;  my  tearn  want  wanhing; 
and  the  very  waHJiingn  of  my  tears  need  to  be  washed 
over  again,  in  the  blood  of  my  iiedeemer." 

Then  let  \va  freely  acknowledge  that  the  h(;avy 
];iird(i)  (){'  God'H  wrath  has  been  lifted  away  oidyhy 
the  atoiieirient  of  (yliri.Ht,  and  not  by  any  Huperadrled 
condition  of  our  own  performing.  C'hri.st  ha.s  trodden 
the  wiiie-prcHH  ofOod'H  wrath  alone,  and  of  the  people 
there  wa.s  none  with  him.  And  an  to  rejK;ntance, 
that  in  juHt  an  much  the  purchase  of  liin  blood,  as 
heaven  itself  is.'  "Thou  hast  destroyed  thyself,  but 
in  me  is  thine  help,"'  is  the  language  of  -Scripture 
to  all  who  an;  looking  round  for  some  means  of  escape 
from  the  angry  Ihreatenings  of  (iod's  word;  some 
refuge  to  which  they  may  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come. 

Ah  to  the  [>romiHeH,  I  dr>  not  say  that  they  are 
unconditional,  eith(;r,  but  I  do  say  that  the  condi- 
tions on  which  they  defjcnd  ai'(;  such  as  guilty  man 
is  altogether  inr;aj>able  of  performing.  I  do  say 
that  Jesus,  as  our  Surety,  has  performed  all  these /or 
us,  and  hy  liin  S/jirit  will  ])erform  them  all,  in  us. 
Through  his  perfect  atonement  we  escape  the  threat- 

'  Actfl  V.  rJI.  2  UuHi-ti  xiii.  9. 


176  ON    FREE    GRACE. 

euings;  tliroiigh  his  unspotted  obedience  we  become 
heirs  of  the  promises, — heirs  of  eternal  life.  For 
if  the  blame  of  our  sins  has  been  imputed  to  him, 
then  has  the  merit  of  his  righteousness  been  imputed 
to  us.  "If  he  has  been  made  sin  for  us,  then  have 
we  been  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him."^ 
And  because  the  promises  are  ours  for  his  sake, 
therefore  the  conditions  of  them  are  worked  in  us 
by  his  free  Spirit ;  "  for  it  is  not  we  who  live  the  life 
of  faith,  but  Christ  that  liveth  in  us."  ^  I  am  very- 
earnest  on  this  point,  because  I  believe  that  every 
thing  we  arrogate  to  ourselves  in  the  work  of  re- 
demption, is  just  so  much  taken  from  the  finished 
work  of  Jesus.  It  is  indeed  very  natural  to  our 
carnal  minds  to  wish  to  have  something  of  our  own 
to  look  at,  to  rest  upon,  to  glory  in;  but  in  propor- 
tion as  we  become  spiritually-minded  we  shall  dis- 
cover that  we  have  nothing  of  our  own  but  sin  and 
misery  and  helplessness;  we  shall  learn  to  say, 
"Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy 
name  give  glory."  "By  grace  ye  are  saved  through 
faith ;  and  even  that  faith  is  not  of  ourselves,  it  is 
the  gift  of  God :  not  of  works,  lest  any  man  should 
boast. "^  "The  wages  of -sin  is  death;  but  the  gift 
of  God  is  eternal  life  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord."*  Oh,  then,  may  we,  receiving  "abundance 
of  grace,  and  of  the  gift  of  righteousness,  reign  in 
life  by  one,  even  Jesus  Christ."^ 

One  of  the  sweetest  promises,  upon  which   the 

1  2  Cor.  V.  21 ;  Rom.  iv.  6 ;  xi.  24 ;  v.  19 ;  Gal.  iii.  29. 

2  Gal.  ii.  20 ;  John  xv.  4,  5.  3  Eph.  ii.  8,  9. 

*  Koai.  vi.  2-).  ^  lt:iin.  v,  17 


02v  fju:e  gi;ace.  177 

miiid  of  every  Oiristian  rests  with  luispeukabie  de- 
light, runs  thus:  "Him  that  cometh  unto  me,  I  Avill 
in  no  wise  cast  out."^  Here  is  a  condition,  him  that 
cometh ;  and  a  iwomise,  I  will  not  cast  out.  But 
who  are  those  that  come  to  Jesus?  "All  that  the 
Father  giveth  me  shall  come  to  me." ^  "No  man 
can  come  to  me,  except  the  Father  which  hath  sent 
me  draw  him."  ^  " No  man  can  come  to  mc,  except  it 
were  given  him  of  my  Father."^  How  distinctly 
are  we  here  told  that  the  same  free  mercy  which 
promises  to  receive  us  when  we  come,  must  be  put 
-^orth  to  make  us  come,  or  ive  never  should  come! 
The  promise  will  surely  be  fulfilled  to  all  who  obey 
the  condition,  but  none  can  obey  the  condition 
save  those  to  whom  it  is  given.  "If  ye  kee]) 
my  commandments,  ye  shall  abide  in  my  love."* 
Precious  promise!  indispensable  condition!  For 
how  can  such  as  delight  not  in  holiness,  abide  in  the 
love  of  the  most  holy  Jesus?  Yet  I  will  freely  con- 
fess, that  if  the  performance  of  even  this  most  just 
and  reasonable  condition  depended  in  any  measure 
on  myself,  I  should  think  the  Lord  Jesus  had  most 
cruelly  mocked  me,  in  setting  before  me  a  promise 
which,  in  my  case  at  least,  must  forever  remain  un- 
fulfilled. But,  blessings  on  his  sacred  name,  he  has 
not  made  the  promise  without  providing  for  the  con- 
dition ;  having  also  promised  to  put  his  laws  in  my 
mind  and  write  them  on  my  heart.*  So  that  I  look 
on  these  very  conditions  as  so  many  promises.     As 

1  John  vi.  37.  2  John  vi.  37.  '  John  vi.  44. 

*  John  vi.  65.  5  John  xv.  10.  6  jjcb.  viii.  10. 


178  ON   FREE   GEACE. 

tliough  my  Saviour  had  said,  "Ye  shall  abide  in  my 
love,  for  tJmt  is  unchangeable;  but  ye  can  by  no 
means  abide  in  my  love  except  ye  keep  my  com- 
mandments. Now  ye  are  not  able  to  do  this :  there- 
fore, behold,  I,  even  I,  will  write  them  in  your  hearts, 
and  copy  them  out  in  your  lives.  Freely  then  ap- 
proach my  throne  of  grace,  and  ask  me  for  this 
promise ;  and  as  ye  cannot  so  much  as  ask  without 
me,  behold,  I  have  promised  to  pour  out  upon  you 
the  Spirit  of  grace  and  supplications,  who  shall 
abide  with  you  forever,  teaching  you  both  what  to 
pray  for,  and  how  to  pray."  ^  In  short,  I  believe  the 
heart  of  every  redeemed  sinner  will  enter  deeply 
into  the  feeling  which  burns  within  mine  while  I 
say.  Thank  God,  that  the  promises  are  not  yea  and 
amen  in  me,  a  miserable,  weak,  and  sinful  worm,  in- 
capable of  i^erforming  one  single  condition  of  them; 
but  they  are  all  yea  and  amen  to  me  in  Christ  Jesus. 
For  his  sake,  God  will  make  them  all  good  to  me ; 
yes,  for  his  sake  they  are  mine  already.  They  are 
my  own  inheritance,  once  forfeited  by  sin,  but  now 
redeemed  with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ;  my 
purchased  possession,  which  can  never  cease  to  be 
mine  till  the  price  that  was  paid  down  for  it  ceases 
to  be  precious  in  the  Father's  sight.  They  are  the 
sure  and  steadfast  anchor  of  my  soul ;  the  joy  and 
rejoicing  of  my  heart;  the  song  which  enlivens  this 
house  of  my  pilgrimage;  better  to  me  than  life, 
dearer  than  my  necessary  food;  sweeter  than  honey 
and  the  honeycomb ;  more  precious  than  fine  gold ; 

1  Zcch.  xii.  10;  Rom.  viii.  26. 


ON    FREE    GRACE.  179 

purer  than  silver  purified  seven  times.  When  my 
soul  pants  after  any  of  these  most  sweet  and  tender 
unsealings  of  God's  love,  I  will  not,  I  cannot,  go  to 
him  and  say,  Lord,  give  me  those  promises  because 
I  have  performed  the  conditions  of  them,  and  am 
therefore  ivorthy  that  thou  shouldest  give  them  to 
me.  God  forbid  that  I  should  take  such  a  plea 
within  my  lips,  for  in  so  doing  my  own  heart  would 
condemn  me,  and  God,  who  is  greater  .than  my  heart, 
would  condemn  me.  No :  when  I  draw  near  to  my 
reconciled  God  and  Father,  I  v/ill  fill  my  mouth  with 
far  other  arguments  than  these.  I  will  say  to  him, 
Lord,  thou  knowest  that  I  have  not  performed  the 
conditions  of  these  promises,  but  Jehovah  viy  right- 
eousness has  fulfilled  them  all  for  me.  I  am  not  worthy 
of  the  least  of  all  thy  mercies;  but  worthy  is  the 
Lamb  that  was  slain ;  and  for  his  dear  silke  thou  wilt 
give  me  the  best  and  greatest  of  them  all ;  and  that  ex- 
ceeding abundantly  above  all  that  I  can  ask  or  think. 
Every  condition  necessary  to  salvation  is  fulfilled 
in  us,  not  by  any  efforts  of  our  own,  but  by  our  re- 
ceiving continually  grace  for  grace,  out  of  the  fulness 
of  Jesus.  Kepentance  is  necessary,  but  we  cannot 
repent  of  ourselves;  and  therefore  Jesus  is  exalted 
to  give  repentance,^  It  behoves  us  not  only  to 
repent  of,  but  to  forsake,  sin ;  but  sooner  shall  the 
Ethiopian  change  his  skin,  and  the  leopard  his  spots, 
than  we  shall  do  good,  who  are  accustomed  to  do 
evil;  and  therefore  Jesus  is  sent  to  bless  us,  *'in 
turning  away  every  one  of  us  from  our  iniquities."^ 
1  Acts  V.  31.  2  Acts  iii.  26. 


180  ON    FREE   GRACE. 

Faith  is  a  necessary  condition  of  salvation :  "  Believe 
in  tlie  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved."  ^ 
"He  that  believeth  on  me  hath  everlasting  life;  he 
that  believeth  not  shall  not  see  life."''  Yet  this 
same  faith  is  the  "gift  of  God."'  It  is  "given  to 
us  on  the  behalf  of  Christ,  to  believe."*  "No  man 
can  say  that  Jesus  is  the  Lord,  but  by  the  Holy 
Ghost." ^  Love  is  no  less  necessary  than  faith.  "If 
any  man  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus,  let  him  be  ana- 
thema maran-atha."^  But  "the  carnal  or  natural 
mind  is  enmity  against  God."'  And  how  then  can 
it  act  so  directly  against  its  own  nature  as  to  love 
him?  It  is  not  only  indifferent,  not  merely  slightly 
opposed,  but  in  its  very  nature  absolute  enmity  against 
God.  "Nor  can  it  be  subject  to  the  law  of  God;"^ 
for  the  fulfilling  of  that  law  is  love.  Miserably 
hopeless  then  is  our  case,  if  that  heart,  which  is  thus 
defined  "enmity  against  God,"  must  so  overcome 
the  moral  incapacity  of  its  own  nature  as  to  fill 
itself  with  love  to  him.  But  Jesus  has  reconciled 
us  who  were  alienated  and  enemies  in  our  own  minds 
by  wicked  works;  and /or /m  sake  "the  love  of  God  is 
shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is 
given  to  us."^  Good  works  are  absolutely  necessary 
to  salvation:  "Herein  is  my  Father  glorified,  that 
ye  bring  forth  much  fruit."  ^°  "Faith  without  works 
is  dead:  I  will  show  thee  my  faith  by  my  works."" 

1  Acts  xvi.  31.  2  John  vi.  47  j  iii.  36.      *  Ephes.  ii.  8. 

4  Phil.  i.  29.  5  1  Cor.  xii.  3 ;  Matt.  xvi.  17. 

6  1  Cor.  xvi.  22.  '  Rom.  viii.  7.  ^  Rom.  viii.  7. 

»  Col.  i.  21 5  Rom.  v.  5;  1  Tim.  i.  14.  lo  John  xv.  8. 

"  James  ii.  19   20. 


ON    FREE    GRACE.  181 

But  it  has  been  already  urged,  that  as  the  cor-' 
rupt  tree  cannot  bring  forth  good  fruit,  so  neither 
can  we  who  are  evil  do  good  things.  "There- 
fore the  children  of  God  are  his  workmanshij), 
created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works,  which  God 
hath  before  ordained  that  we  should  walk  in  them."^ 
True  it  is,  that  we  are  commanded  to  "  work  out  our 
own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling;"  but  the 
reason  follows — "  for  it  is  God  that  worketh  in  us  to 
will  and  to  do  of  his  own  good  pleasure."^  I  have 
used  the  word  condition  in  this  place,  for  the  more 
convenient  exposition  of  my  meaning;  but- 1  con- 
sider the  use  of  it,  as  applied  to  iis,  to  be  altogether 
incorrect.  Faith,  love,  holiness,  &c.  were  indeed,  to 
Christ,  conditions  of  our  salvation ;  but  to  us  they 
are  the  consequences  of  salvation;  or  rather  they  are 
a  part  of  our  salvation,  purchased  for  us  by  the 
obedience  and  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ,  "who  gave 
himself  for  us  that  he  might  redeem  us  from  all 
iniquity,  and  purify  unto  himself  a  peculiar  people, 
zealous  of  good  works."  ^ 

We  find  then  in  ourselves  an  utter  poverty  of 
every  thing  that  is  spiritually  good;  "but  God  hath 
blessed  us  with  all  spiritual  blessings  in  Christ 
Jesus."*  We  are  nothing,  can  do  nothing,  say  no- 
thing, think  nothing,  but  what  is  evil.  "Christ  is 
all  and  in  all."  "Every  good  and  every  perfect 
gift  Cometh  from  above,"  and  is  given  to  us  by  the 

1  Ephes.  ii.  10. 

2  Phil.  ii.  12,  13;  Isa.  xxvi.  12;  Hob.  xiii.  20,  21. 

3  Titus  u.  14.  4  Ephes.  i.  3. 

in 


182  ON    FREE   GEACE. 

Father,  for  his  beloved  Son's  sake.     "  We  are  com- 
plete in  him."^ 

I  may  seem  to  have  often  repeated  the  words 
"gifts"  and  "given;"  but  they  cannot  come  over  too 
often,  nor  be  too  earnestly  dwelt  on.  The  Scriptures 
are  perpetually  renewing  the  delightful  repetition, 
and  presenting  the  idea  of  somewhat  gratuitously 
bestowed,  under  every  possible  variety  of  language 
and  imagery.  Sometimes  they  speak  of  buying  the 
gospel  blessings,  and  tell  us  to  "  come  and  buy  with- 
out money  and  w^ithout  price."  ^  And  what  is  this, 
but  to  come  and  hold  out  the  empty  hand  of  faith 
and  receive  as  a  free  gift  all  that  God  will  put  into  it  ? 
Sometimes  they  represent  sin  under  the  idea  of  a 
vast  debt,  expressly  declaring  that  "Jesus  frankly 
forgives  all  Avhen  we  have  nothing  to  pay."^  So 
long  then  as  we  think  we  have  any  tiling  to  pay,  we 
do  not  come  under  the  descrij)tion  of  those  to  whom 
Jesus  frankly  forgives  all.  But  when  convinced  of 
our  depravity  and  helplessness,  we  come  poor,  naked, 
and  emjoty  to  Jesus,  casting  from  us  all  confidence, 
save  only  that  which  his  tender  love  and  mercy 
excites,  making  mention  of  his  righteousness,  and 
his  only,  then,  and  not  till  then,  will  he  freely 
pardon,  freely  clothe  and  enrich  us,  freely  receive 
us  among  the  children,  and  make  us  perfect 
through  his  own  comeliness,  which  he  puts  upon  • 
the  souls  that  simply  trust  in  him.  The  poor 
and  needy,  the  weak  and  helpless,  are  his  peculiar 

1.  Col.  iii.  11 ;  James  i.  17  j  Col.  ii.  10. 

3  Is  liah  Iv.  1.  3  Matt,  xviii.  27. 


ON  riiKE   Gr.ACE.  183 

care,  wliile  those  who  think  they  have  any  strength 
or  riches  of  their  owji  to  trust  to,  are  not  objects 
of  his  bounty,  for  "he  feedeth  the  strong  with 
judgment,"'  and  "sendeth  the  rich  empty  away."^ 

If  any  of  the  promises  are  conditional,  those 
which  are  expressed  in  the  form  of  a  covenant  must 
be  of  that  description,  since  the  very  w^ord  implies 
a  compact  or  agreement.  Let  us  then  inquire  into 
the  terms  of  that  covenant  which  God  has  Conde- 
scended to  make  with  his  people. 

We  know  the  first  covenant  between  God  and 
man,  hoiv  that  ivas  kept;  and  if  man,  as  he  came  out 
of  the  hands  of  his  Creator,  upright,  innocent,  and 
holy,  could  not  keep  conditions  which  he  knew  to  be 
holy,  just,  and  good,  how  shall  fallen  man,  "in  whom 
dwelleth  no  good  thing,"  keep  any  conditions  fit  for 
a  holy  God  to  propose?  I  have  heard  it  said,  "By 
sincere,  though  imperfect  obedience:"  both  wdiich 
terms,  aj^plied  in  this  sense,  appear  to  me  absolute 
nonsense.  Foi;,  in  the  first  place,  is  it  not  blas- 
pheming the  holiness  and  justice  of  God  to  suppose 
that  he  "who  cannot  behold  iniquity"  will  be  satisfied 
with  an  imjjerfect  obedience?  That  he  will  let  go  a 
little  of  his  holiness,  and  a  little  of  his  justice,  and 
part  altogether  with  his  attribute  of  truth?  For  he 
has  said,  That  whosoever  performs  not  the  ivhole  law, 
is  guilty  of  all;  and  that  "he  will  by  no  means 
clear  the  guilty."'  In  the  next  place,  how  can  ive, 
whose  hearts  are  deceitful  above  all  things  and  des- 

1  Ezck.  xxxiv.  15.  2  Luke  i.  53. 

^  Isaiah  ii.  10  ;  Exodus  xxxiv.  7. 


184  ON   FEEE   GRACE. 

perately  wicked,^  talk  of  sincere  obedience?  We 
must  have  the  deceitful  heart  taken  away,  and  new 
hearts  created  within  us,  before  we  can  render  a 
sincere  obedience ;  and  then  it  will  be  no  longer  our 
own  obedience.  To  express  myself  more  clearly — 
"works  done  before  justification  have  the  nature  of 
sin,  and  cannot  so  much  as  make  us  meet  to  receive 
grace"  (Art.  9) :  these  therefore  must  be  wholly  out 
of  the  question,  in  any  covenant,  by  which  we  think 
to  merit  God's  favour.  "Works  done  after  justifica- 
tion," though  miserably  imperfect,  "yet  have  some- 
thing of  the  nature  of  sincere  obedience:"  but  to 
call  these  the  cause,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  of 
our  justification,  when  they  cannot  by  any  means  be 
produced  till  a/ter  justification;  this  would  be  in  the 
most  preposterous  manner  to  confound  the  cause  with 
the  effect,  and  to  put  the  last  first.  Justification  is 
the  producing  cause;  works  done  after  justification 
are  the  natural  effect.  Let  me  correct  myself.  The 
free  love  of  God  in  Christ  is  the  sole  cause  both  of 
justification  and  sanctification ;  but  he  has  so  ordered 
it  that  the  one  shall  ahvays  follow  the  other  in  a  fixed 
and  inseparable  connection;  and  to  say  that  good 
works  precede  or  occasion  justification,  is  to  say  that 
the  fruit  on  the  tree  was  there  before  ever  the  tree  was 
planted:  nay,  that  had  not  the  fruit  first  blossomed 
and  ripened,  the  tree  had  never  come  there  at  all : 
it  is,  in  fact,  to  say  that  the  fruit  planted  the  tree. 

Let  us  cease  then  from  attempting,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  to  stand  before  God  upon  that  covenant  of 

^  Jeremiah  xvii.  9. 


ON    FREE   GRACE.  1S5 

works  which  our  father  Adam,  with  all  the  advan- 
tages of  a  sinless  nature,  did  not  keep.  Far  other 
are  the  means  of  acceptance  which  the  Scriptures 
point  out  to  us.  They  tell  us  that  Jesus,  "the  second 
Adam — the  mediator  of  the  new  covenant,"  has 
taken  upon  himself,  as  our  surety,  to  perform  all 
the  conditions  annexed  to  it.  He  has  borne  all  the 
penalties  due  to  our  disobedience,  and  has  wrought 
out  for  us  an  obedience,  so  perfect,  that  the  eye  of 
God  himself  can  perceive  no  flaw  in  it;  so  infinitely 
meritorious,  that  those  poor  sinners  who  have  it  on, 
appear  in  the  sight  of  the  Father  "  without  spot  or 
wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing:"  they  are  all  fair — there 
is  no  spot  in  them.^  Place  now  our  sincerest  obe- 
dience by  the  side  of  the  righteousness  of  Jesus. 
Compare  our  faint  desires  which  expire  in  the  utter- 
ance; our  tardy  wishes  which  linger  in  the  perform- 
ance; our  few  specious  actions  whose  fair  outside  is 
a  cloak  to  much  that  is  selfish  in  the  motives  of  them, 
and  much  that  is  perverse  in  the  will.  Compare 
this  righteousness  with  the  righteousness  of  Jesus; 
of  Him  who  "  made  it  his  meat  and  drink  to  do  his 
Father's  will;"  whose  zeal  for  the  house  of  God 
"consumed  him;"  who  did  always  such  things  as 
pleased  God;  w^ho  "knew  no  sin,  neither  was  guile 
found  in  his  mouth;"  who  "was  holy,  harmless,  uu- 
defiled,  separate  from  sinners,"  and  himself  made 
higher  than  the  heavens."^  Oh!  who  would  appear 
before  God  in  his  own  filthy  and  ragged  garments, 

1  Ephes.  V.  27;  Cant.  iv.  7. 

■■^  Joha  ix.  34;  Psalm  Ixix.  9;  Ileb.  vii.  26. 


186  ON    FREE   GRACE. 

\vlieii  he  might  be  arrayed  iu  the  glorious  aj^parel 
of  Christ's  righteousness?  AVhy — why  cling  any 
longer  to  the  idea  of  our  own  vrorks,  as  the  means 
of  winniuo^  God's  favour?  Do  we  not  see  that  this 
covering  is  narrower  than  "  that  a  man  may  wrap 
himself  in  it"  ?  that  it  is  not  the  covering  of  God's 
Spirit?  and  above  all  I  would  ask — why  mix  what 
God  hath  forever  put  asunder?  Is  not  the  right- 
eousness of  Jesus  sufficiently  meritorious,  that  it 
must  be  helped  out  with  our  righteousness  ?  If  it  be  a 
perfect  righteousness,  what  need  of  trying  to  improve 
it  by  tacking  to  it  some  paltry  mixture  of  our  own 
fancied  deservings !  This  is  the  folly  of  man — of 
that  vain  worm  who  would  be  wiser  than  his  Maker. 
I  cannot  forbear  mentioning  in  this  place  the 
notable  methods  which  some  who  call  themselves 
serious  Christians,  have  hit  upon  to  eke  out  that 
perfect  righteousness  which  they  think  to  be  insuffi- 
cient, but  which  God  has  judged  to  be  perfect  and 
entire,  wanting  nothing.  There  are  some  who  look 
upon  the  merits  of  Christ  as  given  merely  to  supply 
what  is  lacking  in  their  own  sincere  obedience ;  these 
would  cut  such  pieces  out  of  the  beautiful  garment 
as  would  serve  to  patch  up  their  own  filthy  rags ; 
forgetting  that  even  the  soldiei's,  who  crucified  Christ, 
refused  to  part  his  garment  when  they  observed  that 
it  was  without  seam,  woven  from  the  top  throughout. 
Others  again  profess  to  trust  in  Christ's  righteousness, 
but  talk,  I  know  not  what,  of  deserving  by  their  own 
obedience  that  this  righteousness  may  be  applied  to 
them.     These  would  put  on  the  "spotless  robe;"  but 


ON    FREE   GRACE.  187 

Christ  must  accept  their  own  righteousness  as  a  kind 
of  equivalent  or  compensation  for  it.  A  third  sort 
feel  that  they  cannot  do  without  Christ's  righteous- 
ness; but  then  it  is  not  enough — they  must  also  do 
their  part;  and  when  they  have  done  this,  they 
think  that  God  will  accept  them :  not  for  the  sake 
of  theirs  alone — for  that  would  be  presumption,  nor 
for  the  sake  of  Christ's  alone — for  that  would  be 
licentiousness ;  but  in  some  way  or  other  for  the  sake 
of  the  two  together.  These  truly  would  adorn  the 
"glorious  dress"  with  their  own  faded  tinsel  picked 
from  the  dunghill.  They  would  make  it  more  ac- 
ceptable in  God's  sight  by  sewing  on  to  it  their  own 
filthy  rags.  It  is  not  so  with  those  who  have  learned 
the  truth  "  as  it  is  in  Jesus.'.'  They  desire  with  St. 
Paul  "to  be  found  in  him,  not  having  their  own 
righteousness,  which  is  of  the  law ;  but  that  which  is 
through  the  faith  of  Christ — the  righteousness  wdnch 
is  of  God  by  faith."  ^  They  know  that  Jesus  has 
"made  an  end  of  sin,  and  brought  in  everlasting 
righteousness:"^  by  which  all  the  promises  of  the 
new  covenant  are  made  as  sure  to  believers  as  the 
justice  and  faithfulness,  the  oath  and  counsel  of 
God  can  make  them.  Wonder  not  that  the  ministers 
of  Christ  should  be  exceedingly  jealous  on  this 
point;  for  this  is  the  wadding  garment,  without  which 
whoso  dares  to  appear  before  God  shall  be  bound 
hand  and  foot  and  cast  into  outer  darkness. 

But  to  return  to  the  promises  of  the  covenant:  for, 
at  the  risk  of  apparent  reiDCtition,  I  am  desirous  of 
1  Phil.  iii.  9.  2  Daniel  ix.  24. 


188  ON    FREE    GRACE. 

setting  this  most  important  subject  in  a  clear  point 
of  view ; — so  far  from  holiness  being  made  the  con- 
dition  of  our  obtaining  them,  it  is  itself  the  great 
promise  insured  to  us  by  that  covenant:  "I  will 
make  an  everlasting  covenant  with  them,  that  I  will 
not  turn  away  from  them  to  do  them  good;  but  I 
will  put  my  fear  in  their  hearts,  that  they  shall  not, 
de2)art  from  me."^  "This  is  the  covenant  that  I  will 
make  with  them — I  will  put  my  law  in  their  inward 
parts,  and  write  it  in  their  hearts."  "^ 

The  character,  by  which  the  spirit  of  truth  desig- 
nates fallen  men,  is  that  of  "covenant-breakers."' 
"  They,"  like  men,  "  have  transgressed  the  covenant."* 
Isaiah  says,  "  The  earth  is  defiled  under  the  inhabit- 
ants thereof,  because  thay  have  transgressed  the  laws, 
changed  the  ordinances,  broken  the  everlasting  cove- 
nant."^ What  then  is  the  everlasting  covenant? 
And  how  are  we  "  covenant-breakers"  to  derive  any 
benefit  from  it?  Are  the  terms  of  the  everlasting 
covenant  changed  since  God  entered  into  covenant 
with  Adam  as  the  representative  of  the  whole  human 
race?  Has  the  holy  God  ceased  to  stand  upon  a 
perfect  obedience?  Will  he  accept  less  at  our  hands 
than  he  would  at  those  of  our  father  Adam?  Has 
he  reversed  the  decree,  "  The  soul  that  sinneth,  it 
shall  die"?  No — the  terms  of  the  everlasting  cove- 
nant remain  unchanged.  God  still  requires  a  sinless 
obedience,  a  righteousness  without  a  flaw.  More- 
over, his  justice  demands  satisfaction  for  his  broken 

1  Jer.  xxxii.  40.         *  .Ter.  xxxi.  'Xi.    Sco,  also,  llcb.  viii.  10  ;  \    10. 
8  Rom.  i.  31.  *  llosea  vi.  7.  ^  Isaiah  xxiv.  '6i. 


ON   FREE   GRACE.  189 

covenant.  We  can  fulfil  neither  the  one  nor  the 
other  of  these  requirements.  But  behold  the  second 
Adam — who  is  the  Lord  from  heaven !  With  him 
God  hath  established  his  covenant,  as  the  represent- 
ative of  a  remnant  chosen  according  to  the  election 
of  grace.  Jesus  is  the  mediator  and  the  surety  of  a 
better  covenant  than  that  which  was  made  with 
Adam,  or  the  typical  covenant  made  with  Moses. 
And  yet  the  terms  of  the  covenants  are  the  same — 
perfect  obedience;  death  in  case  of  disobedience. 
But  the  death  has  been  borne  by  Him  "  who  died 
that  we  might  live."  The  obedience  has  been  ful- 
filled by  Him  "through  whose  obedience  many  were 
made  righteous."  Jesus,  as  the  surety  of  the  ever- 
lasting covenant,  has  both  paid  the  full  penalty  in- 
curred by  his  people  for  the  breach  of  the  old  cove- 
nant, and  has  likewise  performed  for  them  every 
condition  of  the  new.  "He  was  made  sin  for  us." 
We  are  "made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him." 
Thus,  in  the  second  Adam,  we  have  paid  to  the 
uttermost  farthing  both  the  debt  of  satisfaction  and 
the  debt  of  obedience.  In  our  surety  Jesus  we  have 
"received  at  the  Lord's  hand  double  for  all  our 
sins,"  In  our  surety  Jesus  we  have  worked  out  our 
title  to  eternal  life:  we  become  rightful  heirs  of  tlie 
promises.  Thus  God  has  made  with  his  people  "  an 
everlasting  covenant,  well  ordered  in  all  things,  and 
sure;"  and  this  covenant  is  "all  their  salvation,  and 
all  their  desire."  Moreover,  this  covenant,  which 
was  confirmed  of  God  in  Christ  before  the  world 
was,  cannot  be  disannulled  by  the  covenant  of  works 


190  ON    FREE   GRACE. 

made  with  Adam  since  the  creation  of  the  world, 
nor  by  the  law,  which  was  added  nearly  3000  years 
afterwards.  It  is  delightful  to  trace  this  covenant 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  Scriptures  of 
truth,  as  it  was  faintly  revealed  to  Adam  and  Noah; 
more  clearly  set  forth  to  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob ;  typified  in  every  part  of  the  ceremonial  law, 
and  foretold  by  the  lawgiver  Moses;  as  it  was  sung 
by  David,  prophesied  by  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel, 
and  the  rest  of  the  prophets ;  manifested  and  fulfilled 
in  the  life  and  death  of  Jesus;  and  explained  and 
enforced  by  the  Apostle  Paul  and  others  of  the  holy 
apostles.  "  Thanks  be  unto  God  for  his  unspeakable 
gift!" — for  his  free  and  complete  salvation!  for,  if 
it  were  not  freely  given,  we  could  never  attain  to  it; 
and,  if  it  were  not  complete  loithoid  our  helj'),  we 
should  be  but  half  saved.  Surely  this  of  all  others 
is  that  "  gift  which  is  as  a  precious  stone  in  the  eyes 
of  him  that  hath  it :  which  way  soever  it  turneth,  it 
prospereth,"^ 

The  great  question  then  about  the  promises  seems 
to  be,  not  so  much  whether  they  are  conditional,  as 
v.hether  God  looks  to  Christ,  or  to  us,  for  the  per- 
formance of  those  conditions.  If  to  Christ,  the 
burden  is  laid  upon  "one  that  is  mighty:"  if  to  us, 
then  w^e  are  undone;  "for  the  condition  of  man  after 
the  fall  is  such,  that  he  cannot  turn  and  2yrepare 
himself,  by  his  own  natural  strength  and  good  works, 
to  faith  and  calling  upon  God:  wherefore  we  have 
no  power  to  do  good  works  pleasant  and  acceptable 

1  Proverbs  xvii.  10. 


ox   FREE   GRACE.  191 

to  God,  ^vitliout  the  grace  of  God  by  Christ  jyrevoii- 
ing  lis,  that  we  may  have  a  good  will,  ivorldng  in  iis 
when  we  have  that  good  will."  (Art.  10.)  So  tlien 
"we  are  accounted* righteous  before  God,  only /or 
the  merit  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesiis  Chrid  hy 
faith,  and  not  for  our  own  worhs  and  deservings: 
wherefore,  tliat  we  are  justified  by  faith  only,  is  a 
most  wholesome  doctrine,  and  very  full  of  comfort, 
as  is  more  largely  expressed  in  the  Homily  on  Jus- 
tification." (Art.  11.) 

We  now  come  to  the  second  argument. — Grace 
will  be  given  to  all  who  diligently  seek  for  it.  But 
if  we  attend  to  the  Scripture  account  of  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  by  nature,  we  shall  find  that  this 
seeking  also  is  the  effect  folloiuing  upon  grace  received  : 
not  the  cause  producing  it.  By  this  I  mean  to  say 
that  the  very  act  of  seeking  grace  proves  that  ive 
have  received  grace  already;  and  that  the  very  ability 
to  seek  is  itself  the  free  gift  of  God's  sovereign 
grace.  If  every  thought  of  man's  heart  is  evil,  and 
that  continually,  surely  it  is  not  out  of  that  heart 
that  the  first  desire  of  any  good  thing  can  spring. 
If,  by  nature,  there  is  none  that  seeJceth  after  God, 
whence  can  the  first  attempt  to  seek  him  arise  but  from 
free  grace  drawing  us  contrary  to  nature f  Freely 
must  grace  be  given,  to  enable  us  to  seek  at  first; 
and  freely  must  it  be  continued,  to  enable  us  to  go 
on  seeking.  I  know  that  none  shall  seek  the  Lord  in 
vain;  none  who  come  shall  be  cast  out;  none  who 
believe  shall  come  short  of  everlasting  life;  none  who 
choose  the  better  jjart  shall  have  it  taken  from  them : 


192  ON    FEEE   GRACE. 

but  then  none  can  seek  the  Lord,  unless  he  first  seek 
them}  None  can  come  excejyt  it  be  given  them  of  the 
Father;  none  can  believe  save  as  many  as  are  or- 
dained to  eternal  life;  none  can -choose  Christ  except 
he  first  choose  them}  If  again  we  consider  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  change  which  must  take  place  in  every 
sinner's  heart  before  he  can  truly  and  earnestly  seek 
God,  we  shall  be  convinced  that  no  part  of  it  is  pro- 
perly his  own.  He  must  "  be  born  again ;"  ^  he  must 
"  become  a  new  creature ;  old  things  must  pass  away, 
all  things  must  become  7iew;"^  he  must  "pass  from 
death  unto  life;"^  "from  darkness  to  light — from 
the  power  of  Satan  unto  God;"^ — "from  going  about 
to  establish  his  own  righteousness,  to  submit  him- 
self to  the  righteousness  of  God;"'^  and  this,  to  a 
proud  carnal  heart,  is  the  most  difficult  of  all.  And 
who  is  sufficient  for  these  things?  Who  but  he  that 
first  formed  us  in  the  womb,  can  cause  us  to  be  born 
again  of  the  Spirit?  Who  but  he  that  originally 
created  us,  is  able  to  create  us  anew  in  Christ  Jesus? 
A¥ho  but  the  giver  of  natural  life  can  give  spiritual 
life,  "and  quicken  those  that  were  dead  in  trespasses 
and  sins"?® 

When  the  Lord  of  life  stood  by  the  grave  of 
Lazarus,  and  said,  Lazarus,  come  forth,  and  he  that 
was  dead  instantly  came  forth;  who  would  say  that 
this  act  of  lifting  himself  up  was  the  cause  of  his 

1  John  X.  16;  Ezekiel  xxxiv.  4;  Luke  xix,  10;  Psalm  cxix.  170; 
Ephesians  ii.  13.  ^  John  vi.  65;  xv.  10;  Acts  xiii.  48. 

3  John  iii.  3.  "  2  Cor.  v.  17.  ^  i  jyii„  iij.  14. 

«  Acts  xxvi.  11;  1  Peter  ii,  9.         ^  Rom.  x.  3.  «  Eph.  ii.  1. 


ON    FREE   GRACE.  193 

coming  to  life,  and  not  ratlier  that  his  coming  to 
life  was  the  cause  of  his  being  able  to  lift  himself 
up?  It  is  thus  when  Jesus  by  his  word  and  Spirit 
says  to  the  heart  of  a  sinner,  "Awake,  thou  that 
sleepest,  arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ  shall  give 
thee  light."  ^  Instantly  that  dead  soul  arises,  and 
its  first  act  is  seeking,  or  prayer;  but  this  same  act 
of  seeking  is  the  effect  of  spiritual  life,  not  the  cause. 
AYe  pray  because  we  are  alive,  not  that  we  may  live. 
We  cannot  quicken  ourselves  when  dead  in  sin,  any 
more  than  we  can  bring  a  dead  body  to  life.  But 
when  Jesus  has  quickened  us,  we  shall  as  surely  per- 
form all  those  actions  which  demonstrate  the  soul 
to  be  spiritually  alive,  as  a  dead  body  when  raised 
by  divine  power  will  surely  perform  all  the  functions 
of  a  living  person.  Grace,  great  grace,  must  be  in- 
fused, to  enable  us  to  seek  at  all,  and  He  who  first 
gave  grace  to  seek,  will  give  more  grace  in  answer 
to  that  seeking,  thus  fulfilling  that  precious  scripture 
which  saith,  "To  him  that  hath  shall  be  given.'"^ 
We  neither  begin  nor  carry  on  the  work  of  grace  in 
our  own  hearts.  Jesus  is  the  author  and  finisher, 
the  Alpha  and  Omega,  of  our  faith.  From  the  first 
spark  of  grace  that  faintly  glimmers  upon  us  here, 
to  the  full  blaze  of  glory  which  shall  burst  upon  us 
in  heaven,  all,  all,  is  his  doing;  it  is  he  that  made 
us  alive  (spiritually),  not  we  ourselves.  It  is  God 
who  both  begins  the  good  work*  in  us,  and  also  will 
"perform  it  unto  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ."^ 

I  cannot  quit  this  subject  without  adverting  to  the 
1  Eph.  V.  14.  *  Matt.  xiii.  12.  a  phu.  i.  «. 

17 


194  ON    FKEE   GRACE. 

very  strong  words  in  which  the  Episcopal  Church  in- 
sists upon  it  throughout  the  whole  service,  perpetually 
reminding  us  that  from  God  all  holy  desires,  as  well 
as  good  counsels,  and  all  just  works,  do  proceed.  In 
the  Collect  for  Sexagesima  Sunday:  "O  Lord  God, 
who  seest  that  we  put  not  our  trust  in  any  thing  that 
we  do."  But  we  are  putting  our  trust  in  something 
we  do,  if  we  are  trusting  to  obtain  God's  promises 
on  any  conditions  of  our  own  performing;  and  we 
are  again  uttering  a  solemn  mockery  in  the  second 
Collect  in  Lent,  "Almighty  God,  who  seest  that  we 
have  no  power  of  ourselves  to  help  ourselves."  In 
the  Collect  for  Easter-day,  we  acknowledge  that  it 
is  God  who  "  by  his  special  grace  preventing  us,  doth 
put  into  our  minds  good  desires,  and  that  we  need 
his  continual  help  to  bring  the  same  to  good  effect." 
Li  the  4th  Sunday  after  Easter:  "Almighty  God, 
who  alone  canst  order  the  unruly  wills  and  affections 
of  sinful  men,  grant  unto  thy  people,  that  they  may 
love  the  thing  \vhich  thou  commandest,  and  desire 
that  which  thou  dost  promise."  In  the  5th :  "  Grant 
that  by  thy  holy  inspiration  we  may  think  those 
things  that  be  good,  and  by  thy  merciful  guiding 
may  perform  the  same."  In  the  1st  after  Trinity: 
"Because  through  the  weakness  of  our  mortal  nature 
we  can  do  no  good  thing  without  'thee,  grant  us  the 
help  of  thy  grace."  In  the  3d  after  Trinity :  "  We, 
to  whom  thou  hast  given  an  hearty  desire  to  pray." 
In  the  9th  after  Trinity :  "  Grant  to  us  the  spirit  to 
think  and  do  always  such  things  as  be  rightful; 
that  we  who  cannot  do  any  thing  that  is  good  with- 


ON    FREE    GRACE.  195 

out  thee,  may  by  thee  be  enabled  to  live  according 
to  thy  will."  In  the  13th  after  Trinity  :  "Almighty 
and  merciful  God,  of  whose  only  gift  it  cometh  that 
thy  faithful  people  do  unto  thee  true  and  laudable 
service,"  &c.  It  appears  to  me  that  this  collect  is 
a  peculiarly  beautiful  lesson;  it  so  strongly  sets 
forth  the  doctrine  of  which  I  am  speaking,  and  so 
wisely  guards  it  from  abuse,  acknowledging  in  the 
plainest  terms  that  as  we  cannot  obtain  the  promises 
hy  a  holy  life,  so  neither  can  we  obtain  them  without 
it.  In  the  17th  after  Trinity  we  pray  that  "his 
grace  may  always  prevent  and  follow  us,  and  make 
us  continually  to  be  given  to  good  works."  In  the 
19th:  "O  God,  forasmuch  as  without  thee  we  are 
not  able  to  please  thee."  In  the  25th:  "Stir  up,  we 
beseech  thee,"  &c.  But  I  will  not  take  up  more 
time  in  multiplying  testimonies  from  this  most  evan- 
gelical service.  If  these  do  not  prove  that  our  great 
reformers  at  least  thought  us  utterly  incapable  of 
doing  one  thing  acceptable  in  the  sight  of  God,  ex- 
cept by  his  free  grace  first  of  all  putting  the  desire 
into  our  hearts,  then  enabling  us  to  breathe  out  that 
desire  in  fervent  jDrayer,  and  then  fulfilling  the 
desire  and  prayer  of  its  own  inspiring:  if  they  do 
not  mean  that  the  work  of  salvation  in  the  heart  is 
the  work  of  free  and  sovereign  mercy,  from  beginning 
to  end,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  conceive  what  they  do  mean, 
or  why  they  came  there  at  all. 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  a  clear  and  full  view 
of  this  doctrine,  that  we  ascribe  to  the/ree,  sovereign 
and  unmerited  grace  of  God   the  first  desire  after 


196  ON    FREE    GEACE. 

him  that  ever  arose  in  our  hearts,  as  well  as  the 
fulfilling  of  that  desire  when  expressed  in  prayer. 
We  must  be  convinced  that  nothing  in  the  work  of 
salvation  is  our  own,  but  only  the  gift  of  God's  love  to 
us  in  Christ  Jesus.  Christ  died  for  us  when  we  were 
enemies :  ^  the  benefits  of  his  death  are  applied  to 
us  for  the  purjjose  of  reconciling  us,  not  in  conse- 
quence of  our  making  any  advances  towards  being 
reconciled.  He  died  for  the  ungodly,  for  those  who 
were  without  strength;'^  without  strength  to  come  to 
him ;  without  strength  to  form  so  much  as  a  wish  to 
come  to  him.  The  desire  to  come  is  given  for  his 
sake:  the  ability  to  come  is  given  for  his  sake:  the 
acceptance  on  coming  is  an  acceptance /o?"  the  beloved 
sake  of  this  beloved  Saviour,  "without  whom  we  can 
do  nothing."'  Those  who  say,  "  Grace  will  be  given 
if  we  ask,  but  then  asking  must  precede  or  procure 
the  given  grace,"  are  in  effect  robbing  God  of  much 
of  the  glory  due  unto  his  name.  For  the  power  and 
the  inclination  to  ask  are  of  themselves  a  part  of  the 
free  gift  of  God's  grace  to  us  in  Christ  Jesus.  They 
are  the  beginning  of  God's  work  in  the  heart ;  and 
to  say  that  we  begin  this  work,  is  no  other  than  to 
say  that  we  can  create  ourselves  anew  in  Christ  Jesus. 
I  will  venture  to  affirm  that  if  God  waited  to  give  us 
his  grace  till  we  ask  him  for  it  of  our  own  accord, 
we  should  go  without  it  to  all  eternity. 

The  great  source  of  error  on  this  head,  even 
among  serious  people,  is  that  they  cannot  bring 
themselves  to  think  they  have  nothing  of  their  own 

1  Rnni.  V.  10.  «  Rom.  v.  6.  »  John  xv.  5. 


ON    FREE   GRACE.  *  197 

in  the  work  of  salvatioD.  Therefore  it  is,  that  when 
constrained  to  acknowledge  that  the  grace  given 
them  ichen  tliey  seek,  is  from  God  only,  their  self- 
righteousness  betakes  itself  to  another  stronghold ; 
and  we  find  them  laying  claim  to  their  asking  and 
seelcing,  as  if  that  at  least  was  the  effort  of  their  own 
will,  the  spontaneous  act  of  their  own  power.  This 
is  just  as  if  one  should  take  a  dead  person  by  the 
hand,  breathe  life  into  him,  and  lift  him  up  upon  his 
feet,  and  that  person  should  make  a  show  of  acknow- 
ledgment to  his  benefactor,  by  allowing  to  that  bene- 
factor the  praise  of  lifting  him  up  after  he  was  alive, 
and  keeping  him  alive  ever  since,  and  yet  should 
maintain  that  the  first  breath  of  all  came  into  him  by 
his  own  spontaneous  act,  by  the  effect  of  his  own 
unassisted  power.  The  absurdity  of  such  an  asser- 
tion, with  regard  to  temporal  life,  would  strike  us  at 
once;  but  we  are  not  so  struck  with  it  in  reference  to 
spiritual-life;  and  the  reason  is  this.  When  we  talk 
of  a  dead  carcass,  we  know  what  we  are  talking 
about.  There  it  lies  before  our  eyes,  incapable  of 
breathing,  moving,  speaking.  We  perfectly  know 
what  we  mean  when  we  say  that  a  dead  body  cannot 
raise  itself  to  life.  But  when  we  speak  of  a  soul 
dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  we  too  often  use  the 
phrase  merely  because  we  find  it  in  the  Scriptures, 
without  the  slightest  conception  of  the  awful  reality 
expressed  by  it.  Nor  is  it  till  we  have  ourselves  in 
some  measure  passed  from  death  unto  life,  that  we 
begin  to  perceive  the  'dreadful  and  close  analogy 
which  really  exists  between  the  two  states  of  natural 
17* 


198  ON    FREE   GRACE. 

and  spiritual  death.  If  God  were  to  come  to  an 
unconverted  person  with  the  question,  not,  Can  these 
dry  bones,  but,  Can  these  dead  souls  live?  he  would 
be  apt  to  reply,  Why  not?  What  should  hinder 
them  from  raising  themselves  up  and  bjreathing  the 
breath  of  spiritual  life?  But  when  God  has  quick- 
ened us  from  our  own  death  in  trespasses  and  sins, 
our  eyes  are  opened  to  see  what  spiritual  death  really 
is,  and  then  we  learn  with  trembling  awe  to  reply, 
"  Lord,  thou  knowest."  This  is  thy  work,  it  is  thou 
that  must  make  us  alive,  and  not  we  ourselves. 

Since,  then,  men  are  universally  disposed  to  go 
about  establishing  their  own  righteousness,  how  care- 
fully ought  we  to  close  up  every  avenue  through 
which  this  besetting  sin  might  gain  admittance  and 
rob  us  of  our  peace,  by  leading  us  to  rob  Christ  of 
his  praise!  Many  are  the  windings  of  our  own 
treacherous  hearts ;  many  are  the  devices  of  Satan 
by  which  he  would  tempt  us  to  ascribe  to  our  own 
strength  what  God  has  done  for  us  of  his  mere  mercy. 
Nor  let  us  think  that  a  mistake  here  can  be  of  tri- 
fling importance.  God  is  very  jealous  for  his  great' 
name;  and  he  has  declared  that  if  "we  will  not  lay 
it  to  heart  to  give  glory  to  his  name,"  he  will  send 
a  curse  upon  us,  and  will  even  "curse  our  bless- 
ings."^ Many  and  glorious  are  the  crowns  which 
adorn  the  sacred  head  of  Immanuel ;  let  us  not  try 
to  pluck  thence  the  brightest  and  fairest  of  them  all, 
for  well  does  it  become  this  King  of  kings.  When 
we  get  to  heaven,  and  receive  the  crown  of  glory, 
"  1  Malachi  ii.  2. 


ON    FREE    GRACE.  199 

%ve  shall  be  ready  enough  to  cast  that  at  his  feet,  and 
to  say,  Thou  only  art  worthy.  Let  us  do  the  same 
with  the  crown  of  grace  here;  for  surely  we  have  as 
little  right  to  arrogate  the  one  to  ourselves  as  the 
other. 

A  few  words  on  a  sentiment,  not,  it  is  to  be  hoped, 
very  generally  prevalent,  yet  as  we  do  find,  even  in 
what  is  called  the  religious  world,  some  who  avow- 
edly profess  it,  and  many  more  who  are  secretly, 
perhaps  unconsciously,  influenced  by  it,  a  brief  notice 
of  it  may  not  be  unnecessary.  I  allude  to  those 
who,  finding  the  doctrine  of  free  and  sovereign  grace 
very  fully  and  strongly  set  forth  in  St.  Paul's  epistles, 
seem  in  all  their  arguments  on  the  subject  to  abate 
somewhat  of  the  divine  authority  of  these  epistles, 
and  confine  themselves  to  a  few  isolated  statements 
from  the  gospel,  &c.  which  they  deem  more  conso- 
nant to  their  own  views  and  feelings.  To  such  I 
would  say,  St.  Paul  is  no  more  responsible  for  the 
matter  contained  in  his  epistles  than  you  or  I  are. 
These  are  not,  in  fact,  St.  Paul's  epistles :  they  are 
the  epistles  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  faithfully  tran- 
scribed and  delivered  to  us  by  his  servant  Paul. 
The  Holy  Ghost,  speaking  through  the  medium  of 
Paul,  cannot  but  speak  in  perfect  unison  with  what 
he  has  declared  through  the  medium  of  Peter  or 
John,  or  any  other  of  his  inspired  messengers.  He 
may  take  up  one  instrument  and  lay  down  another, 
but  the  Spirit  which  speaks  in  them  is  the  same. 
He  may  open  the  mouth  of  one  of  his  servants  to 
explain  one  mystery  of  his  gospel,  while  he  makes 


200  ON    FREE   GRACE 

another  more  fully  to  dwell  upon  and  unfold  some 
other  mystery:  for  he  divideth  unto  every  man 
severally  as  he  will.  But  still  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
is  One.  He  cannot  contradict  himself,  cannot  speak 
contrary  to  the  truth,  for  he  is  the  Spirit  of  Truth, 
and  is  given  to  lead  us  into  all  truth.  And  of  the 
inspired  penmen,  one  and  all,  we  may  say,  "Have 
they  any  power  at  all  to  say  any  thing?  The  ivord 
that  God  put  into  their  mouths,  that  have  they  spoken. 
They  coidd  not  go  beyond  the  word  of  the  Lord  their 
God,  to  say  less  or  more." 

We  shall  never  become  perfectly  reconciled  to  all 
parts  of  the  word  of  God  until  he  himself  bestows 
on  us  the  spirit  and  temper  of  a  little  child,  to  re- 
ceive without  murmuring,  or  disputings,  or  carnal 
reasonings,  whatsoever  JEHOVAH  the  Spirit  is 
pleased  to  say  to  us.  That  Spirit  alone  can  take 
away  the  evil  heart  of  unbelief,  which  prevents  us 
from  embracing  the  whole  counsel  of  God  as  revealed 
in  his  word.  It  is  he  that  must  open  our  hearts  to 
attend  to  all  the  things  written  in  his  laAv.  Then  we 
shall  perceive  a  connection  and  a  harmony  between  * 
every  part  and  every  doctrine  of  the  Scriptures, 
which  will  fill  us  with  ever-increasing  wonder  and 
delight.  May  he  thus  open  our  understandings  to 
understand  the  Scriptures,  and  to  know  the  things 
that  are  freely  given  to  us  of  God. 


ON   ELECTING   GRACE.  201 


CHAP^R  III. 

ON    ELECTING    GRACE. 

The  17th  Article  of  the  Episcopal  Church  .gives 
so  much  better  an  account  of  the  doctrine  of  Election, 
or  Predestination,  than  could  be  expressed  by  any 
words  of  mine,  that  I  beg  leave  to  place  it  at  the 
head  of  this  chapter. 

"Predestination  to  life  is  the  everlasting  purpose 
of  God,  whereby  {before  the  foundations  of  the  umrld 
ivere  laid)  he  hath  constantly  decreed  by  his  counsel, 
secret  to  us,  to  deliver  from  curse  and  damnation 
those  whom  he  hath  chosen  in  Christ  out  of  mankind, 
and  to  bring  them  by  Christ  to  everlasting  salvation, 
as  vessels  made  to  honour.  Wherefore  they  which 
be  endued  with  so  excellent  a  benefit  of  God  be  called, 
according  to  God's  purpose  by  his  Spirit  working  in 
due  season;  they  through  grace  obey  the  calling:  they 
he  justified  freely,  they  be  made  sons  of  God  by  adop- 
tion: they  be  made  like  the  image  of  his  only  be- 
gotten Son  Jesus  Christ:  they  walk  religiously  in 
good  works,  and  at  length,  by  God's  mercy,  they 
attain  to  everlasting  felicity. 

"As  the  godly  consideration  of  Predestination 
and  our  Election  in  Christ  is  full  of  sweet,  p)leasant, 
and  unspeakable  comfort  to  godly  persons,  and  such 
as  feel  in  themselves  the  workings  of  the  Spirit  of 


202  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

Christ  mortifying  the  works  of  the  flesh,  and  their 
earthly  members,  and  drawing  up  their  mind  to  high 
and  heavenly  things  as  well  because  it  doth  greatly 
establish  and  confirm  their  faith  of  eternal  salvation  to 
he  enjoyed  through  Christ,\i,s  because  it  doth  fervently 
kindle  their  love  towards  God;  so  for  curious  and 
carnal  persons,  lacking  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  to  have 
continually  before  their  eyes  the  sentence  of  God's 
Predestination,  is  a  most  dangerous  downfall,  whereby 
the  devil  doth  thrust  them  either  into  desperation, 
or  into  recklessness  of  most  unclean  living,  no  less 
perilous  than  desperation. 

"  Furthermore,  we  must  receive  God's  promises  in 
such  wise  as  they  be  generally  set  forth  to  us  in  holy 
Scripture ;  and  in  our  doings,  that  will  of  God  is  to 
be  followed,  which  we  have  expressly  declared  to  us 
in  the  word  of  God." 

The  latter  part  of  this  article  is  awfully  true ;  and 
the  warning  conveyed  by  it  should  sink  into  every 
heart.  But  what  then?  Must  godly  persons  re- 
nounce or  suppress  a  doctrine  clearly  revealed  in 
Scripture;  strongly  enforced  by  the  articles  of  a 
church  of  which  they  are  professed  members ;  and 
full  of  sweet,  pleasant,  and  unspeakable  comfort,  merely 
because  curious  and  carnal  persons  will  "  wrest  it, 
as  they  do  also  the  other  scriptures,  to  their  own 
destruction"  ?  ^  At  this  rate,  we  must  renounce  every 
Scripture  truth ;  for  there  is  not  one  which,  while  it 
is  a  savour  of  life  unto  life  unto  them  that  are  saved, 
is  not  also  a  savour  of  death  unto  death  to  them 

1  2  Peter  iii.  16. 


ON    ELECTING   GRACE.  203 

that  perish.^  Therefore  we  must  not  be  afraid  to 
receive  with  humility  and  simplicity  all  that  the 
Scriptures  have  revealed  to  us  on  this  subject.  Let 
us  then,  as  in  a  former  chapter,  search  this  sacred 
"vvord,  and  see  what  testimony  we  can  bring  from  the' 
three  that  bear  record  in  heaven. 

God  the  Father  saith  of  himself,  by  Moses,  "that 
he  will  have  mercy  on  whom  he  will  have  mercy," 
and  "  will  have  compassion  on  whom  he  will  have 
compassion."  ^  God  the  Son  has  told  us  "  that  none 
can  know  the  Father,  save  he  to  whomsoever  the 
Son  will  reveal  him :"  ^  "  that  to  some  it  is  given  to 
know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but 
to  others  it  is  not  given:"*  "that  no  man  can  come 
to  him  except  it  were  given  him  of  the  Father;"^ 
"that  all  whom  the  Father  giveth  him,  shall  come 
to  him :"  ^  "  that  he  will  give  eternal  life  to  as  many 
as  God  hath  given  him:"^  "that  of  all  which  the 
Father  hath  given  him  he  will  lose  nothing,  but  will 
raise  it  up  again  at  the  last  day;"^  "that  many  are 
called,  but  few  chosen:"^  "that  God  hath  an  elect 
people,  whom  he  hath  chosen :"  ^°  "  that  he  will  avenge 
his  own  elect:""  "that  it  is  impossible  finally  to  de- 
ceive his  elect :"^^  "that  he  will  gather  together  his 
elect  from  the  four  winds,  from  one  end  of  heaven 
to  the  other :"^^  "that  he  calleth  his  own  sheep  by 

1  2  Cor.  ii.  15,  16.         2  Exod.  xxxiii.  19;  Eom.  ix.  5. 

3  Matt.  X.  27.  4  Matt.  xiii.  11.  5  John  vi.  65. 

6  John  vi.  37.  ^  John  xvii.  2.  8  j^hn  vi.  :39. 

9  Matt.  XX.  16;  xxii.  14.  lo  Mark  xiii.  20. 

"  Luke  xviii.  7.  ^'^  Matt.  xxiv.  24.  "  Matt.  xxiv.  31. 


204  ON   ELECTING   GRACE. 

name,^  and  leadetli  them  out  from  sin  and  self,  and 
will  bring  his  other  sheep  which  are  yet  unborn,  and 
they  shall  hear  his  voice,  and  that  if  any  believe 
not,  it  is  because  they  are  not  of  his  sheep :"  ^  that 
"  we  did  not  choose  him,  but  he  hath  chosen  us,  and 
ordained  us,  that  we  should  go  and  bring  forth  fruit, 
and  that  our  fruit  should  remain:"^  "that  he  knows 
whom  he  hath  chosen:"*  and  that  "his  disciples  are 
not  of  the  world,  because  he  hath  chosen  them  out 
of  the  world*:"  ^  declares  by  the  pen  of  St.  Luke, 
that  "the  Lord  added  to  the  church  such  as  should 
be  saved — and  that  as  many  as  are  ordained  to 
eternal  life  believe:"^  by  that  of  Peter,  that  "all 
God's  people  are  elect  by  the  foreknowledge  of  God 
the  Father,  through  sanctification  of  the  Spirit  unto 
obedience,  and  sprinkling  of  the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ;"  that  they  are  "a  chosen  generation,  a  royal 
priesthood,  a  holy  nation,  a  peculiar  people;  that 
they  should  show  forth  the  praises  of  him  who  hath 
called  them  out  of  darkness  into-  his  marvellous 
light ;"  that  "  the  God  of  all  grace  is  he  who  hath 
called  them  into  his  eternal  glory  by  Jesus  Christ:"' 
by  James,  that  "  God  of  his  own  will  begetteth 
them  with  the  word  of  truth,"  and  that  "known  unto 
him  are  all  his  works  from  the  beginning  of  the 
world  :"^  (and  if  all^  surely  that  most  wondrous  work 
which  is  wrought  every  time  God  changes  a  sinner's 
heart:)  by  Jude,  that  "the  saints  are  sanctified  by 

1  John  X.  3.  2  John  x.  3,  16,  26.  »  John  xv.  16. 

4  John  xiii.  18.     ^  John  xv.  19.  ^  Acts  ii.  47;  xiii.  48. 

f  1  Peter  i.  2:  ii.  9:  v.  10.  »  James  i.  18;  Acts  xv.  18. 


ON    ELECTING    GRACE.  205 

God  the  Father,  and  preserved  in  Jesus  Christ,  and 
called:"^  by  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,  that 
"they  are  born  again,  not  of  the  will  of  the  flesh, 
nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God :"  that  they  are 
"called,  and  chosen,  and  faithful;  that  their  names 
are  written  in  the  book  of  life,  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world ;  that  if  we  love  God  it  is  because  he 
first  loved  us."  ^  But  of  all  his  faithful  messengers, 
God  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  made  choice  more  espe- 
cially of  St.  Paul  to  dilate  upon  and  unfold  a  doctrine 
which  might  yet  have  been  learnt  from  other  apostles 
had  the  writings  of  St.  Paul  never  existed ;  a  very 
small  part  of  whose  testimony  is  as  follows: — "For 
whom  he  did  foreknow,  he  also  did  predestinate,  to 
be  conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son,  that  he  might 
be  the  first-born  among  many  brethren :  moreover, 
whom  he  did  predestinate,  them  he  also  called ;  and 
whom  he  called,  them  he  also  justified ;  and  whom 
he  justified,  them  he  also  glorified."^  "Where- 
fore there  is  a  remnant  according  to  the  election  of 
grace ;  and  if  by  grace,  then  is  it  no  more  of  works : 
otherwise  grace  is  no  more  grace.  But  if  it  be  of 
Avorks,  then  is  it  no  more  grace ;  otherwise  work  is 
no  more  work."^ 

How  plainly  does  the  Lord  the  Spirit  here  testify 
the  utter  impossibility  of  mixing  grace  and  works! 
He  shows  us  that  if  the  very  least  mixture  of  work 

1  Jude  1. 

2  John  i.  13;  Rev.  xvii.  8,  14;  xiii.  8;  xx.  12,  15;  xxi.  27; 
Luke  X.  20 ;  1  Johu  iv.  10.  See,  also,  John  xii.  39,  40. 

3  Rom.  viii.  29,  30.  *  Rom.  xi.  6,  6. 

18 


206  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

could  be  admitted  into  the  covenant,  grace  would 
change  its  nature,  and  cease  to  be  grace.  It  must 
be  all  work  or  all  grace;  we  cannot  make  a  half-and- 
half  covenant  with  God.  He  has  offered  us  these 
two ;  we  must  be  saved  by  the  one,^  or  perish  by  the 
other.^  "Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  blessed  us  with  all  spi- 
ritual blessings  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ,  accord- 
ing as  he  hath  chosen  us  in  him  before  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world,  that  we  should  be  holy  and  without 
blame  before  him  in  love :  having  predestinated  us 
into  the  adoption  of  children  by  Jesus  Christ  to  him- 
self, according  to  the  good  pleasure  of  his  will,  to 
the  praise  of  the  glory  of  his  grace,  wherein  he  hath 
made  us  accepted  in  the  beloved,  being  predestinated 
according  to  the  purpose  of  him  who  worketh  all 
things  after  the  counsel  of  his  own  will."^  "Who 
hath  saved  us  and  called  us  with  an  holy  calling, 
not  according  to  our  works,  but  according  to  his 
own  purpose  and  grace,  which  was  given  us  in  Jesus 
Christ  before  the  world  began."  ^  Time  would  fail 
me  before  I  had  done  bringing  forward  Scripture 
testimonies  to  the  doctrine  of  election ;  it  is  so  inter- 
woven with  every  part  of  Holy  Writ  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  take  any  part  separately  without  impairing 
its  effect.  I  will,  therefore,  only  remark,  in  conclu- 
sion, that  our  Lord  uses  the  term  chosen  or  elect  no 

1  Ephes.  ii.  8.  2  Gal.  iii.  10.  3  Ephes.  i.  3-6,  11. 

*  2  Tim.  i.  9.  See,  also,  Rom.  ix.;  1  Cor.  vi.  11;  Gal.  iv.  6; 
1  Thess.  ii.  12;  iv.  7;  2  Thess.  i.  11,  12;  ii.  13,  14;  2  Tim.  ii.  19; 
Titus  i.  1-3. 


ON    ELECTING   GRACE.  207 

less  than  ten  times  in  this  sense  in  the  Kew  Testa- 
ment,— viz.,  Matt.  XX.  16;  xxii.  14;  xxiv.  31;  Mark 
xiii.  20,  22,  27;  Luke  xviii.  7;  John  xiii.  18;  xv.  16, 
19 ;  that  it  is  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  ^Yriting3 
of  the  prophets  and  apostles ;  and  that  the  word 
predestinate  is  used  several  times  by  the  Apostle 
Paul.  It  appears  to  me  also  impossible  to  read 
the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  or  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
through,  without  perceiving  that  this  doctrine  runs 
like  a  rich  vein  through  every  j^assage.  But,  while 
we  are  bound  to  embrace  all  that  the  Scriptures  teach 
on  this  subject,  we  must  cautiously  guard  against 
attempting  to  be  wise  above  what  is  written,  and  we 
should  do  well  to  confine  ourselves  not  only  to  the 
sense,  but  as  much  as  possible  to  the  very  ivords,  of 
Scripture,  lest  we  should  darken  counsel  by  words 
without  knowledge.  Yet  we  must  neither  reject  any 
part  of  the  written  word  of  God,  nor  try  to  twist 
and  turn  it  so  as  to  make  it  square  with  our  own 
notions.  As  it  stands,  so  we  must  receive  it;  with 
meekness  of  love,  without  partiality,  without  gain- 
saying. 

Many  are  firmly  persuaded  of  the  truth  of  this 
doctrine,  who  yet  shrink  from  declaring  their  con- 
viction to  others;  as  if  some  dangerous  effect  were 
to  be  apprehended  from  its  propagation.  The  folly 
of  such  an  apprehension  is  well  pointed  out  in  the 
following  words  of  an  eminent  reformer,  which  I 
cannot  forbear  giving,  as  they  afford  a  specimen  of 
the  dignified  simplicity,  sound  judgment,  and  close 
reasoning  which  shine  in  almost  every  part  of  the 


208  ON   ELECTING   GRACE. 

Institutes  of  Calvin ;  a  book  which  was  held  in  re- 
pute as  the  finest  apology  for  Protestantism  that  ever 
appeared,  till  the  names  of  Calvin  and  Calvinist 
came  to  be  held  up  as  mere  signs  of  a  party  in  reli- 
gion. "The  Scripture  is  the  school  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  in  which  as  nothing  necessary  and  useful  to 
be  known  is  omitted,  so  nothing  is  taught  which  it 
is  not  beneficial  to  know.  Whatever,  therefore,  is 
declared  in  the  Scripture  concerning  2^^' ^destination ^ 
we  must  be  cautious  not  to  withhold  from  the  faith- 
ful, lest  we  appear  either  to  defraud  them  of  the 
favour  of  their  God,  or  to  reprove  and  censure  the 
Holy  Spirit  for  publishing  what  it  would  be  useful 
by  any  means  to  suppress.  Let  us,  I  say,  permit  the 
Christian  man  to  open  his  heart  and  his  ears  to  all 
the  discourses  addressed  to  him  by  God ;  only  with 
this  moderation,  that  as  soon  as  the  Lord  closes  His 
sacred  mouth  he  shall  also  desist  from  further  in- 
quiry. This  will  be  the  best  barrier  of  sobriety,  if 
in  learning  we  not  only  follow  the  leadings  of  God, 
but,  as  soon  as  he  ceases  to  teach,  we  give  up  our 
desire  of  learning."  "I  only  desire  this  general 
admission,  that  we  should  neither  scrutinize  those 
things  which  the  Scriptures  have  left  concealed,  nor 
reject  those  which  are  openly  exhibited.  For  it  is 
judiciously  remarked  by  Augustine  that  we  may 
safely  follow  the  Scripture,  which  proceeds  like  a 
mother  stooping  to  the  weaknesses  of  a  child,  that 
it  may  not  leave  our  weak  capacities  behind.  But 
persons  who  are  so  cautious  or  timid  as  to  wish  pre- 
destination to  be  buried  in  silence  lest  feeble  minds 


ON    ELECTING    GRACE.  209 

should  be  disturbed,  with  what  pretext,  I  ask,  will 
they  gloss  over  their  arrogance,  which  indirectly 
charges  God  with  foolish  inadvertency,  as  though 
he  foresaw  not  the  danger  which  they  suppose  they 
have  the  penetration  to  discover?  Whoever,  there- 
fore, endeavours  to  raise  prejudices  against  the  doc- 
trine of  predestination,  openly  reproaches  God,  as 
though  something  had  inconsiderately  escaped  him 
that  is  pernicious  to  his  church." 

I  have  been  induced  to  gi\e  this  extract  at  some 
length,  because  I  never  met  with  so  beautiful  a  de- 
scription of  the  sober  spirit  in  which  the  doctrine 
of  election,  and,  indeed,  every  other  doctrine,  ought 
to  be  studied ;  and  also  because  it  shows  the  extreme 
folly  of  shutting  our  eyes  against  any  revealed  truth, 
for  fear  of  its  consequences.  If  "the  man  of  God" 
would  be  "perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all 
good  works,"  he  must  study  with  humble  diligence, 
and  receive  with  ready  teachableness,  every  part  of 
the  revealed  will  of  God.  "For  all  Scripture  is 
given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is  profitable  for 
doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction 
in  righteousness."^ 

And  thus  it  is,  that,  while  the  doctrine  of  predes- 
tination is  death  to  those  who  weary  themselves  in 
presumptuous  disputings  and  reasonings  about  it, 
there  always  have  been  and  will  be  a  happy  few, 
who,  humbly  and  sincerely  feeding  upon  it,  receiving 
all  that  the  Scripture  tells  them  concerning  it,  and 
desiring  to  know  no  further,  find  it  health  and  peace 

1  2  Tim.  iii.  16,  17. 
n  18- 


210  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

to  their  souls.  It  lays  them  very  low  at  the  feet  of 
their  Redeemer;  brings  down  the  high  swelling  of 
their  pride  and  self-esteem;  pulls  away  from  under 
them  all  those  broken  reeds  upon  which  they  had 
been  used  to  lean,  self-righteousness,  self-will,  self- 
dependence,  and  leaves  to  them  no  one  prop  on 
which  to  lean  for  support,  whilst  coming  up  out  of 
this  wilderness,  but  the  arm  of  their  beloved, — that 
everlasting  arm  which  will  surely  conduct  them  to 
glory.  When  that  arm  becomes  shortened  that  it 
cannot  save,  or  weak  that  it  cannot  support ;  when 
the  arm  of  Jesus  fails  and  is  wear}^;  then  they  will 
begin  to  look  around  for  some  other  stay ;  but  not 
till  then.  Or  when  they  can  discover  in  themselves 
one  single  good  thing  which  Jesus  did  not  put  there ; 
one  reason  why  he  should  visit  them  with  such 
amazing  love;  then  they  will  conclude  that  his  love 
took  its  rise  from  theirs,  not  theirs  from  his.  But 
they  never  will  discover  one  such  thing,  so  long  as 
the  Spirit  of  God  illumines  their  heart  and  brings 
to  light  its  immense  depravity  and  worthlessness. 
Therefore,  as  God's  love  could  not  have  been  excited 
by  any  thing  in  them,  they  believe  it  to  be  an  eternal 
love;  that  they  were  called  in  time,  because  they 
were  chosen  from  eternity ;  and  that  the  name  of 
Jesus  is  now  engraven  as  a  seal  upon  their  hearts, 
because  their  names  were  written  on  his  heart  before 
ever  the  world  was.  And  when  their  thoughts 
stretch  forward  to  the  end  of  this  pilgrimage,  and 
they  rejoice  in  the  view  of  the  mansions  prepared 
for  them  in  their  Father's  house,  the  crown  of  that 


ox    ELECTING   GRACE.  211 

rejoicing  is  this:  "we  got  not  the  land  in  possession 
by  our  own  strength,  neither  did  our  own  arm  save 
us,  but  thy  right  hand,  and  thy  arm,  and  the  light 
of  thy  countenance,  because  thou  hadst  a  favour 
unto  us."^  "Thus  they  rejoice  in  Christ  Jesus,  and 
have  no  confidence  in  the  flesh;"  for  "God  is  the 
glory  of  their  strength,  and  in  his  favour  their  horn 
is  exalted." 

I  cannot  pretend  to  meet  the  objections  or  to 
refute  the  cavils  commonly  raised  when  this  doctrine 
of  election  is  made  the  subject  of  discussion;  for  I 
did  not  learn  it  in  the  way  of  carnal  reasonings,  but 
by  simply  taking  the  Scriptures  as  I  found  them, 
and  as  the  Spirit  of  God  enabled  me  to  receive  them. 
If  St.  Paul,  after  descanting  on  this  subject,  breaks 
off  in  an  ecstasy  of  admiration,  exclaiming,  "How 
unsearchable  are  his  judgments,  and  his  ways  past 
finding  out!"  we  need  not  wonder  if  our  shallow 
understandings  are  incapable  of  fathoming,  our 
limited  capacities  of  comprehending,  our  low  minds 
of  reaching,  them.  We  must  be  satisfied  with  be- 
lieving that  it  is  even  so,  because  "so  it  seemed  good 
in  our  Father's  sight,"  ^  whatever  it  may  appear  in 
ours.  This  reason,  which  appeared  satisfactory  to 
our  Saviour,  may  surely  satisfy  us;  or,  if  not,  he  has 
vouchsafed  an  assurance,  which  may  well  serve  to 
repress  present  inquiry  into  things  too  high  for  us. 
"  What  I  do,  thou  knowest  not  now,  but  thou  shalt 
know  hereafter."  ^ 

1  Psalm  xliv.  3.  2  Matt.  xi.  26.  ^  John  xUi.  7. 


212  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

That  tliese  things  are  so,  I  believe,  because  I  find 
them  among  the  revealed  things  which  belong  to  us 
and  our  children  forever.  How  or  why  they  are  so, 
I  desire  not  too  closely  to  inquire,  lest  I  should  in- 
trude into  the  secret  things  which  belong  unto  the 
Lord  our  God.  Oh  that  he  would  give  unto  every 
one  of  us  that  humble  and  teachable  spirit  with 
Vi'hich  a  little  ignorant  child  is  content  to  receive 
his  father's  lessons,  without  rudely  commenting  ujDon 
his  father's  ways  or  rashly  intruding  into  his  father's 
secrets!  This  one  thing  we  know,  and  with  this  we 
may  be  satisfied :  that  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth 
cannot  but  do  right.  But  it  were  prejDOsterous  to 
expect  that  he  should  always  do  that  which  is  right 
in  our  eyes,  so  long  as  our  notions  of  right  and  wrong 
are  so  utterly  confused  and  perverted  as  they  have 
been  ever  since  the  fall.  He  himself  tells  us  that 
the  Lord  seeth  not  as  man  seeth;  and  that  "that 
which  is  highly  esteemed  among  men  is  abomination 
in  the  sight  of  God."  ^  It  cannot  be,  so  long  as  his 
ways  are  equal  and  ours  unequal,  that  his  righteous 
dealings  should  be  in  exact  accordance  with  our  un- 
righteous views  and  sentiments.  Instead,  then,  of 
wearying  ourselves  with  impotent  attempts  to  bring 
down  his  will  and  counsel  to  the  level  of  our  ideas, 
our  far  wiser  way  will  be,  to  submit  our  thoughts 
and  ideas  to  his  will,  assured  that  it  is  holy,  just, 
and  good.  Yet,  since  we  should  be  ready  to  give  a 
reason  for  every  hope  that  is  in  us,  I  will  venture  to 

1  Luke  xvi.  15. 


ON   ELECTING   GRACE.  213 

touch  on  some  of  the  most  hackneyed  objections  to 
this  glorious  doctrine;  and  I  pray  God  that  he  will 
help  me  to  show  their  exceeding  vanity  and  futility. 

The  objection  most  frequently  urged  against  the 
doctrine  of  predestination  is,  that  it  seems  to  charge 
the  Almighty  with  injustice  and  caprice;  for  if  the 
doom  of  every  person  be  irrevocably  fixed  before  he 
comes  into  the  world,  why  is  he  punished  for  what 
he  cannot  help?  And  is  it  not  accusing  God  of  a 
strange  partiality,  to  suppose  him  capable  of  reject- 
ing some  and  choosing  others,  before  they  had  done 
any  thing  to  draw  down  his  wrath  or  to  conciliate 
his  favour?  Now,  to  this  objection,  as  involving  the 
honour  of  his  own  name,  God  himself  has  deigned 
to  provide  us  with  a  sufficient  answer.  "  Thou  wilt 
then  say  unto  me.  Why  doth  he  yet  find  fault?  For 
who  hath  resisted  his  will?  Nay,  but,  O  man,  who 
art  thou  that  repliest  against  God?  Shall  the  thing 
formed  say  to  him  that  formed  it.  Why  hast  thou 
made  me  thus?  Hath  not  the  potter  power  over  the 
clay,  of  the  same  lump  to  make  (;:ie  vessel  unto 
honour  and  another  unto  dishonour?  What  if  God, 
willing  to  show  his  wrath,  and  to  make  his  power 
known,  endured  with  much  long-suffering  the  vessels 
of  wrath  fitted  to  destruction;  and  that  he  might 
make  known  the  riches  of  his  glory  on  the  vessels  of 
mercy  which  he  had  afore  prepared  unto  glory ?"^ 

The  justice  of  God  in  predestination  would  appear 
sufficiently  clear,  if  w'e  would  but  take  a  fair  and 

1  Rom.  ix.  19,  23;  Job  xxxii.  12,  U,  23;   ^\.  2,  S;  Isaiah  xlv.  9. 


214  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

impartial  view  of  our  own  state  by  nature :  that  this 
world  is  a  guilty  and  ruined  world ;  and  that  every 
creature  born  into  it  has  a  sinful  nature  born  with 
him,  which  lays  him  under  the  just  and  dreadful 
sentence  of  eternal  death.  Now,  if  God  foreknew 
from  all  eternity  that  the  children  of  men  would 
thus  become  the  children  of  wrath,  and  determined 
from  all  eternity  to  save  a  remnant  according  to  the 
election  of  grace,  where  is  the  injustice  of  this  pro- 
ceeding? Is  it  that  he  did  not  determine  to  save  all, 
instead  of  soyne  only?  But,  alas!  that  all  are  not 
saved,  is  a  truth  of  which  even  the  opposers  of  elec- 
tion must  acknowledge  their  sad  conviction.  It  is 
that  he  was  influenced  entirely  by  free  and  distin- 
guishing grace,  that  he  chose  the  favoured  remnant 
according  to  his  counsel  and  will;  and  not  on  account 
of  any  merit  of  theirs  in  seeking  or  in  serving  him. 
But  where  is  the  distinction  of  merit  to  be  found  ? 
It  exists  nowhere  but  in  the  distempered  imagina- 
tion of  men.  This  merit,  which  men  talk  about, 
God  cannot  find ;  and  he  has  nowhere  acknowledged 
its  existence.  For  there  is  no  difference;  "for  all 
have  sinned:"  "all  the  world  is  guilty  before  God." 
We  know  that  "the  whole  world  lieth  in  wicked- 
ness."^ It  appears,  then,  that  whether  we  uphold  or 
oppose  the  doctrine  of  predestination,  we  must  agree 
in  acknowledging  that  all  men  are  not  saved.  And 
if  this  be  the  case, — if  God  have  determined  to  save 
some  from  v/rath,  and  if,  for  reasons  to  us  inscrutable, 
he  have  determined  not  to  save  all, — by  what  motive, 

1  RomTui.  19,  22,  23;  1  John  i.  10^ 


ON    ELECTING    GRACE.  215 

I  ask,  could  his  choice  be  directed  where  all  are 
equally  guilty;  all,  like  sheep, "have  gone  astray? 
where  none  can  repent  or  turn  to  him,  unless  he 
gives  the  grace  to  do  so?  and  what  is  that  but 
choosing  them?  Reason  itself  tells  us  that  the 
Scripture  account  of  this  mystery  can  alone  be  the 
true  one, — viz.,  "that  God  has  mercy  on  ivho^n  he 
will  have  mercy;"  "that  he  has  compassion  on  ivliom 
he  will  have  compassion."  That  "it  is  not  of  him 
that  willeth,  nor  of  him  that  runneth ;  but  of  God 
that  showeth  mercy"  That  God  begets  us  oihis  own 
will.  That  the  saints  are  elect  according  to  the  fore- 
knowledge of  God.  That  they  are  jnedestinated 
unto  the  adoption  of  children  by  Jesus  Christ  unto 
himself:  according  to  the  good  pleasure  of  his  ivill: 
"  being  predestinated  according  to  the  pur2)ose  of  him 
who  ivorketh  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his  own 
wiliy  Thus  much  we  know,  because  thus  much  is 
revealed  to  us  in  the  oracles  of  truth.  But  at  this 
point  we  must  stay  our  inquiries.  For  we  are  as  in- 
capable of  entering  into  the  reasons  of  God's  dealing 
with  us,  any  further  than  he  has  deigned  to  unfold 
them,  as  an  infant  is  to  enter  into  the  counsels  of  a 
full-grown  man.  Yes;  and  a  great  deal  more  so. 
For  the  one  is  but  the  difference  between  finite  and 
finite — between  worm  and  worm;  but  this  is  the 
difference  between  finite  and  infinite — between  the 
worm  and  God. 

The  case,  plainly  stated,  appears  to  be  this.  All 
are  sinners.  Not  only  so,  but  all  love  sin,  and  drink 
up  inirpiity  like  water.     All  say  in  their  hearts  to 


216  ON    ELECTING    GRACE. 

God,  "  Depart  from  us,  for  we  desire  not  the  know- 
ledge of  thy  ways."  ^  Therefore  every  individual  of 
the  human  race,  without  one  single  exception,  is  in 
a  state  of  condemnation  before  God — a  state  from 
which  he  has  neither  the  power  nor  the  will  to  extri- 
cate himself.  The  whole  world  lieth  in  wickedness ; 
it  lieth  under  the  curse,  and  most  justly  deserveth 
the  curse  which  God  has  pronounced  against  "  every 
one  who  continueth  not  in  all  things  that  are  written 
in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them."  ^  The  whole, 
therefore,  of  Adam's  race,  considered  as  sinners,  may 
be  considered  as,  by  nature,  in  a  state  of  reprobation. 
But,  blessed  forever  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  he  would  not  display  his  justice 
in  the  destruction  of  a  whole  world  of  sinners.  He 
determined  to  show  also  the  riches  of  his  glory  on 
certain  vessels  of  mercy,  whom  he  had  afore  pre- 
pared unto  glory.  He  chose  some  of  those  worthless 
and  guilty  things,  called  men,  the  vessels  of  his 
mercy.  He  chose  these  children  of  wrath  to  become 
the  children  of  grace.  He  chose  them  in  Christ 
Jesus  long  before  the  foundation  of  the  world;  and, 
ever  since  the  foundation  of  the  world,  he  has  been 
calling  those  chosen  vessels  (as  the  time  appointed 
for  each  came)  out  from  this  world,  giving  his  Son 
to  redeem  and  his  Spirit  to  sanctify  them,  and  him- 
self to  be  their  portion  forever.  Does  this  wonderful 
display  of  his  mercy  upon  a  part  of  Adam's  h.ell- 
deserving  race,  take  away  his  right  of  executing 
justice  upon  the  remainder  of  that  race?  Should 
^ob'x xiTT 4^  2  Gal.  iii.  10. 


ON    ELECTING    GRACE.  217 

we  say,  why  did  he  not  pardon  all,  when  we  ought 
to  be  amazed  at  his  mercy  in  not  having  condemned 
all?  It  is  of  his  mercies  that  we  are  not  all  con- 
sumed :  well  may  it  be  asked,  Who  are  we  that  we 
stand  thus  replying  against  God?  \Yhen  all  are  as 
brands  fit  for  the  burning,  if  God  chose  to  pluck 
some  as  brands  out  of  the  fire,  shall  we  say  that  this 
act  of  mercy  renders  less  just  the  destruction  of  those 
who  are  left  ? 

Mercy  is  offered  to  all  (at  least  in  Christian 
lands) ;  but  such  is  the  desperate  malignity  of  sin, 
such  is  the  enmity  of  the  heart  to  God,  that  all,  if 
left  to  their  own  free  will  (as  it  is  called),  would 
shut  their  ears  and  hearts  against  every  overture  of 
reconciliation.  God,  by  his  special  grace,  opens  the 
ears  and  hearts  of  a  chosen  remnant,  to  attend  to 
and  embrace  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation.  They 
come  to  Jesus,  because  the  Father  draws  them ;  and 
because  they  come,  he  saves  them  to  the  uttermost. 
Does  all  this  diminish  the  wickedness  of  those  who 
r.o  not  come,  or  detract  from  God's  justice  in  pun- 
ishing them  for  not  coming?  He  sends  his  Son  to 
man  with  the  largest  proffers  of  mercy.  His  long- 
suffering  endures  them,  spares  them,  waits  upon 
them,  till  it  has  been  proved  to  men  and  angels 
that  such  is  the  perverseness  of  man's  ivill  that  he 
will  not  accept  of  life.  Then  he  gives  them  over  to 
the  natural  and  necessary  consequences  of  their  own 
choice.  But  all  are  not  thus  given  over ;  a  remnant, 
a  seed,  is  chosen  in  Christ,  in  whom,  to  show  forth  his 
own  (jlori),  lie  subdues  the  rebellious  will,  takes  away 

19 


218  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

the  natural  enmity,  and  accepts  them,  not  for  their 
own  sakes,  but  for  Christ's. 

To  sum  up  what  has  been  said,  the  condemnation 
of  mankind  is  a  just  and  deserved  condemnation: 
the  salvation  of  the  remnant  chosen  out  from  man- 
kind is  a  free  and  undeserved  salvation.  Every  man 
shall  hsiYQ pe7feGt  justice  done  to  him;  and  if,  in  the 
case  of  some,  justice  and  mercy  have  met  together, 
let  no  one  dare  to  murmur,  for  God  has  a  right  to 
do  what  he  will  with  his  own. 

If,  after  all  these  considerations,  the  doctrine  of 
election  still  seems  to  imply  injustice  and  partiality 
in  God's  dealings  towards  us,  I  would  ask,  is  there 
any  other  scheme  upon  which  his  dealings  can  be 
made  less  mysterious  and  inexplicable?  Are  the 
difficulties  which  surround  predestination  more  in- 
surmountable than  those  which  present  themselves 
m  every  part  of  the  providential  dispensations  of 
God?  Might  not  the  same  temper  which  objects  to 
the  electing  grace  of  God,  carp  also  at  his  injustice 
and  partiality  in  revealing  to  us  the  abundance 
of  light  and  truth,  while  he  has  left  so  many  dark 
places  in  the  earth  full  of  the  habitations  of 
cruelty?  Might  not  such  persons  arraign  his  equity 
in  giving  to  some  every  possible  advantage  of  a  reli- 
gious education  and  leaving  others  to  every  possible 
disadvantage  of  an  irreligious  one?  Or  (for  there 
are  no  bounds  to  the  presumptuous  spirit  of  inquiry) 
why  do  they  not  at  once  take  the  Almighty  to  task 
for  having  suffered  evil  to  get  into  the  world  at  all? 
For  it  is  certain  that  evil  has  got  into  the  world; 


ox    ELECTING    GRACE.  219 

and  its  existence  is,  after  all,  the  great  difficulty, 
of  which  the  opposers  of  predestination  can  give  us 
no  better  account  than  the  believers  in  this  doctrine 
are  able  to  do ;  for  we  know  nothing  but  what  the 
Scriptures  have  revealed  to  us;  and  if  they  have 
not  gone  back  to  the  origin  of  evil,  the  reason  must 
be,  that  instruction  on  that  point  was  not  necessary 
for  us. 

But  I  stop:  he  that  reproveth  God,  let  him  answer 
it.  All  these  mysteries  can  be  accounted  for  only 
by  referring  them  to  the  inscrutable  mystery  of 
God's  predestination.  To  the  eye  of  carnal  reason 
they  lie  involved  in  the  thickest  obscurity ;  but  the 
eye  of  faith  sees  in  them  no  darkness  at  all.  For 
faith,  instead  of  vainly  striving  to  pull  these  things, 
so  far  above  reason,  down  to  the  level  of  reason, 
resolves  every  difficulty  into  the  gracious  ivill  or  ivise 
2)ermission  of  God,  and  seeks  to  know  no  further. 
How  many  things  are  there  which  I  know  not,  nor 
can  by  any  searching  find  out  to  perfection !  But 
Jesus  knows  them  all.  With  this  assurance  I  sit 
down  fully  satisfied.  He  will  teach  them  to  me 
hereafter,  as  I  am  able  to  bear  it.  In  the  mean  time 
I  will  trust,  and  not  be  afraid.  All  that  my  God 
says  to  me  I  will  implicitly  believe,  for  I  know  that 
every  word  of  God  is  pure.  "All  the  words  of  his 
mouth  are  in  righteousness :  there  is  nothing  fro  ward 
or  perverse  in  them :  they  are  all  plain  to  him  that 
understandeth,  and  right  to  them  that  find  know- 
ledge." '     When  I  come  to  see  God  as  he  is,  and  to 

1  Prov.  viii.  8,  9. 


220  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

know  as  I  myself  am  known,  I  shall  find  that  all 
these  mysteries  of  his  word  and  will  were  only  "dark 
with  excessive  light."  In  the  mean  time,  till  I  have 
the  eagle  eye  that  can  gaze  undazzled  at  his  glories, 
I  will  view  them  at  humble  distance  through  the 
glass  of  faith,  which  he  has  given  me  for  this  pur- 
pose ;  nor  will  I  dare  to  repine  because  "  I  can  only 
see  them  in  a  glass  darkly."^  Thus  faith  removes 
every  objection,  stills  every  murmur,  and  silences 
every  doubtful  thought.  I  have  dwelt  the  longer 
upon  this  subject,  from  a  conviction  that  the  grand 
reason  with  most  people  for  rejecting  the  doctrine 
of  election,  is,  not  that  they  cannot  find  it  m  the 
Bible,  but  that,  being  unable  to  reconcile  it  to  their 
own  preconceived  and  imperfect  notions  of  equity  and 
fitness,  they  come  to  the  Bible  predetermined  not  to 
find  it  there. 

But  another,  and  a  heavy  charge  too,  is  brought 
against  this  doctrine:  that  it  encourages  people  to 
continue  in  sin.  The  same  charge  was  brought  against 
free  grace  in  the  days  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  and  is 
answered  fully  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  his  epistle  to 
the  Komans.  See,  also,  Eom.  iii.  8,  31.  It  cannot 
be  denied  that  there  are  some  wretched  persons  who 
turn  the  grace  of  God  into  licentiousness ;  but  it  is 
the  grace  of  God  for  all  that,  and,  as  such,  cannot 
have  an  unholy  tendency.  We  are  not  the  less  com- 
manded to  stand  fast  in  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ 
has  made  us  free,  because  some  use  this  liberty  only 
as  an  occasion  to  the  flesh,  only  for  a  cloak  of 
1  1  Cor.  xiii.  12. 


ON    ELECTING    GKACE.  221 

maliciousness.  Such  persons  -would  suck  poison  and 
death  from  the  very  tree  of  life.  But  real  believers 
in  the  doctrine  of  election,  I  mean  those  who  derive 
their  ideas  on  it  from  the  Bible  only,  and  measure 
every  thing  by  this  standard,  have  not  so  learned 
Christ.  They  know  that  "  God  hath  not  called  them 
to  uncleanness,  but  to  holiness."  ^  They  know  that 
"  whom  God  foreknew,  he  also  did  predestinate  to  he 
conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son;"'^  and  therefore 
they  search  themselves  daily,  to  see  whether  this 
pure,  this  holy  image  be  forming  in  their  hearts. 
They  know  that  if  God  "chose  them  before  the 
foundation  of  the  world,"  it  was  "that  they  might 
be  holy  and  luithout  blame  before  him  m  love;"^  and 
therefore  they  are  encouraged  to  be  importunate 
with  him  for  more  of  that  holy,  blameless,  and  loving 
temper  to  which  he  has  chosen  them.  Thus  they 
have  "the  witness  in  themselves:"*  they  have  "the 
earnest  of  the  Spirit:"^  they  know  that  they  are 
sons,  "  because  God  has  sent  forth  the  spirit  of  his 
Son  into  their  hearts:"®  they  know  God's  love  to 
them  by  their  love  to  him.  They  look  upon  their 
own  good  works  as  the  fruit  of  God's  electing  love 
— not  as  the  root  from  whence  it  sprang;  and,  far  from 
considering  them  as  any  part  of  the  payment  of  their 
mighty  debt,  they  receive  them  as  a  fresh  load  of 
obligation,  for  which  they  will  still  be  owing  him 
more  and  more  to  all  eternity.  Yet  they  know  full 
well  .that  good  works  are  necessary  as  the  evidences 

1  1  Thcss.  iv.  7.  2  Rom.  viii.  29.  3  Ephes.  i.  4. 

*  1  John  V.  10.  5  2  Cor.  i.  22 ;  v.  5.         6  o}al.  iv.  6. 

19* 


222  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

of  their  election;  for  how  can  they  tell  that  Christ 
abideth  in  them  except  by  the  spirit  which  he  has 
given  them?  In  proportion,  then,  as  they  find  their 
hearts  panting  after  holiness,  in  that  very  proportion 
they  are  enabled  to  maintain  the  sweet  assurance 
that  God  has  chosen  them  to  be  partakers  of  his 
holiness.  Thus  they  give  all  diligence  to  make  their 
calling  and  election  sure:  that  is,  not  to  make  God 
sure  whether  he  will  elect  and  call  them,  but  to 
make  themselves  sure  whether  God  has  elected  and 
called  them. 

Nearly  allied  to  this  objection  is  one  raised  by 
many  against  the  doctrine  of  election,  that  it  either 
lifts  men  up  with  an  overweening  arrogance  and 
presumption,  or  else  causes  them  to  sink  into  the 
depths  of  despair.  But  when  a  poor  sinful  creature 
feels  his  heart  running  over  w^ith  sorrow  for  sin,  and 
desires  after  holiness ;  when  his  soul,  once  taken  up 
with  the  world,  is  now  absorbed  in  the  love  of  Jesus, 
so  as  to  desire  nothing  besides  him  in  heaven  or  in 
earth:  whether  is  it  more  arrogant  to  say,  I  turned 
myself  from  sin  unto  God,  or  to  say,  God  of  his 
infinite  mercy  turned  m.ef  To  say,  I  myself  sought 
God  out  and  diose  him,  and  therefore  he  accepted 
me;  or  to  say,  God  sought  me  out  because  he  had 
chosen  me  in  Christ  Jesus  before  the  w^orld  began, 
and  therefore  I  am  now  enabled  to  seek  and  choose 
him?  And  as  every  redeemed  sinner  knows  that 
the  love  he  feels  in  his  heart  to  God  was  none  of  his 
own  implanting,  for  all  that  he  could  produce  was 
only  enmity  and  more  enmity,  is  it  so  very  presump- 


ON    ELECTING    GRACE.  223 

tuous  to  conclude  that  be  loves  God  because  God 
first  loved  bim?  Ratber,  would  it  not  be  the  beigbt 
of  presumption  to  contradict  Scripture  and  common 
sense,  by  making  tbe  opposite  conclusion?  And  if 
■vve  allow  the  truth  of  St.  John's  assertion,  that  if  ive 
love  God  it  is  because  he  f.rst  loved  us,  whence 
shall  we  date  the  commencement  of  this  love?  Was 
it  some  sudden  impulse  that  came  into  his  mind  un- 
awares and  uiiforeknown,  as  human  imaginations 
arise?  Did  it  begin  at  our  birth,  or  spring  up  at 
the  moment  of  our  conversion?  What!  could  not 
Omniscience  foreknow  the  objects  of  his  love?  Must 
he  wait  till  the  work  of  his  own  hands  is  brought 
upon  the  stage  of  existence,  before  he  can  tell  how 
it  will  turn  out?  or  whether  he  is  making  a  vessel 
to  honour,  or  one  to  dishonour?  a  vessel  of  mercy, 
or  a  vessel  of  wrath  ?  Will  those  wdio  charge  be- 
lievers in  election  with  arrogance,  explain  how  they 
themselves,  without  the  greatest  arrogance,  can 
assert  that  Omniscience  cannot,  or  will  not,  foresee, 
and  that  Omnipotence  cannot,  or  will  not,  decide,  the 
fate  of  his  own  creatures.^  For,  if  we  love  God 
because  he  first  loved  us,  and  if  this  love  of  his  was 
not  from  a II  eternity,  then  there  must  be  a  time  when  he 
did  not  love  us:  that  is,  there  must  have  been  a  time 
when  either  the  mind  of  the  unchangeable  God  was 
different  from  v.hat  it  is  now,  or  else  a  time  when 
the  almighty  and  all-knowing  God  could  not  foresee 
the  objects  of  his  favour,  or  ivas  unable  to  make  up 
his  mind  whether  he  would  love  them  or  not.  The 
difficulties  which  absurdities  like  these  present  on 


224  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

every  side,  are  far  greater,  aud  consequently  far 
more  dangerous,  than  those  which  attend  the  plain 
Bible  truth,  that  "it  is  not  of  him  that  willeth,  nor 
of  him  that  runneth,  but  of  God  that  showeth 
mercy,"  and  that  the  saints  were  chosen  in  Christ 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world.  As  long  as  I 
have  the  Bible  in  my  hand,  I  cannot  think  the 
thoughts  and  counsels  of  the  Eternal  are  the  mere 
creatures  of  a  day,  the  offspring  of  time  and  chance, 
veering  about  with  every  change  of  our  most  change- 
able hearts.  I  must  conclude  that,  like  their  Supreme 
Author,  they  stretch  from  eternity  to  eternity;  and  it 
is  only  the  belief  that  they  were  thus  from  everlasting, 
that  emboldens  me  to  hoj)e  that  they  will  stand  firm 
to  everlasting.  Again,  is  it  more  arrogant  to  say 
that  God's  love  to  us  took  its  origin  from  any  good 
thing  perceived  or  foreseen  in  us,  or  to  say  that  every 
good  thing  that  ever  has  appeared  or  shall  appear 
in  us,  takes  its  origin  from  this  infinite,  this  eternal, 
this  incomprehensible  love  of  God?  I  desire  in- 
deed no  other  account  of  the  connection  subsisting 
between  God's  love  to  me,  and  mine  to  him,  than 
that  which  he  has  himself  vouchsafed  to  give:  "I 
have  loved  thee  wdth  an  everlasting  love:  therefore 
with  loving-kindness  have  I  drawn  thee."^ 

How  can  a  doctrine  be  said  to  encourage  pre- 
sumption and  arrogance,  which  strips  ofi'  every  pre- 
tension to  assist  in  saving  ourselves,  and  sends  us 
naked,  empty,  and  helpless  to  the  cross  of  Christ, 
leaving  us  no  plea  except  his  free  unmerited  grace 

^  Jer.  xxxi.  3. 


ON    ELECTINCJ    (iilACi:.  225 

and  mercy?  What  more  humbling  than  a  doctrine 
which  is  perpetually  reminding  us,  "Who  maketh 
thee  to  differ  from  another?"  and,  "What  hast  thou 
that  thou  didst  not  receive?  Now,  if  thou  didst 
receive  it,  why  dost  thou  glory  as  if  thou  hadst  not 
received  it?"^  But  the  great  charge  against  be- 
lievers in  predestination  seems  to  be  that  they  think 
themselves  predestined  to  salvation,  and  adjudge  all 
the  rest  of  the  world  to  eternal  misery.  God  forbid ! 
they  dare  not  take  upon  themselves  to  judge  others; 
yea,  they  judge  not  their  own  selves,  except  by  that 
unerring  word  which  God  has  given  them  for  this 
purpose  (of  course  I  only  speak  of  sincere  Chris- 
tians ;  false  professors  will  pervert  this,  as  well  as 
every  other  doctrine).  It  is  ti'ue  that  many  happy 
souls  are  enabled  to  triumph  in  full  assurance  of 
faith,  and  to  say,  with  St.  Paul,  "Who  loved  ??ie, 
and  gave  himself  for  ?ne."^  But  these,  as  I  have 
before  said,  venture  to  think  themselves  the  elect 
people  of  God,  only  because  they  find  the  character 
of  God's  elect  deeply  engraven  on  their  hearts. 
"They  cry  unto  him  night  and  day."^  They  ^ ye 
much,  whence  arises  a  sure  and  well-founded  hope 
that  much  has  been  forgiven  them.  But  this  very 
circumstance  forbids  them  to  despair  of  others.  Set 
before  them  the  vilest,  the  most  hardened  sinner, 
such  a  one  as  the  righteous  and  moral  of  this  world 
would  separate  from  their  company,  and  they  would 
say,  "But  for  the  free  mercy  of  my  God,  I  had  been 
as  vile   as   he.     Never  was   there   a   darker,  or  a 

I  1  Cor.  iv.  7.  *  Gal.  ii.  20.  3  Luke  xviii.  7. 

P 


226  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

colder,  or  a  harder  heart,  than  mine  was  by  nature. 
If  then  God  has  shined  into  my  dark  heart,  made 
my  cold  heart  to  burn  with  love,  melted  my  heart 
into  a  willing  obedience,  wdiy  may  I  not  hope  that 
he  will  do  the  same  for  this  poor  sinner  before  me? 
Divine  grace  has  not  yet  called  him,  but  it  may  do 
so  this  very  day:  nay,  who  knows  but  God  may 
have  appointed  me  to  be  the  happy,  humble  instru- 
ment of  his  conversion?  Therefore  I  will  use  every 
means,  though  it  may  seem  as  hopeless  as  Ezekiel's 
preaching  to  the  dry  bones.  I  will  plant  and  w^ater  ; 
for,  though  I  cannot  command  an  increase,  God  can} 
In  the  morning  I  will  sow  my  seed,  and  in  the  even- 
ing I  will  not  withhold  my  hand ;  for  I  know  not 
which  means  shall  prosper,  this  or  that,  or  whether 
my  God  will  bless  both  alike."  ^ 

Thus,  far  from  causing  us  to  despair  of  the  salva- 
tion of  others,  or  to  be  careless  in  using  every  means 
of  doing  them  good,  this  belief  in  God's  electing 
love  is  the  only  thing  that  can  set  us  to  work  with 
any  rational  hope  of  success.  For  if  the  changing 
of  a  sinner's  heart  depend  upon  our  own  exertions, 
or  upon  his  disposition  to  benefit  by  our  persuasion, 
the  tayk  of  addressing  him  will  be  a  hopeless  and  a 
thankless  one  indeed.  But  if  God  have  from  the 
beginning  chosen  that  sinner  unto  salvation  (and  we 
have  no  right  to  infer  otherwise),  he  has  also  ap- 
pointed the  means  whereby  this  salvation  shall  be 
effected,  and  those  means  shall  he  blessed,  though 
every  human  probability  be  against  them.  Let  not 
1  1  Cor.  iii.  6,  7.  2  Eccl.  xi.  6. 


ON    ELECTING    GRACE.  227 

then  a  doctrine  be  denounced  as  uncharitable  which 
excites  its  followers  to  be  always  abounding  in  every 
labour  of  love,  by  the  certain  assurance  it  affords 
them  that  their  labour  shall  not  be  vain  in  the  Lord. 
It  must  not  be  denied  that  they  are  afraid  to  give 
flattering  titles,  or  to  appear  to  think  well  of  the 
spiritual  condition  of  those  in  whom,  as  yet,  they 
can  perceive  none  of  the  things  which  accompany 
salvation.  To  be  thus  saying,  "  Peace,  peace,"  when 
there  is  no  peace,  is  what  the  world  calls  being  very 
kind  and  charitable ;  but  the  Bible  calls  it  "  hating 
our  brother  in  our  heart."  ^  This  charity,  so  highly 
esteemed  among  men,  is  abomination  in  the  sight  of 
God.  But  that  love,  w'hich  the  Holy  Ghost  sheds 
abroad  in  the  hearts  of  his  people,  constrains  them 
to  overstep  the  narrow  bounds  of  worldly  kindness 
and  courtesy.  It  causes  rivers  of  waters  to  run 
down  their  eyes,  for  those  who  keep  not  God's  law. 
And  while  they  weep  and  pray  for  them,  they  dare 
not  but  tell  them  of  their  danger.  But  do  they 
urge  them  to  despair  ?  Far,  far  from  it.  To  despair 
indeed  of  help  from  themselves,  from  every  thing 
short  of  Jesus  Christ;  but  not  to  despair  of  his 
willingness  to  receive  and  pardon  them !  They  tell 
sinners  that  his  arms  are  wide  open  to  embrace  all 
who  come  to  him,  and  they  lift  up  their  prayers  unto 
God,  that  he  would  make  them  come  to  Jesus. 
They  tell  them  that  he  is  able  to  save  to  the  utter- 
most; that  with  him  there  is  plenteous  redemption; 
that  he  waits  to  be  gracious.     Yes,  they  beseech 

^  Lov.  xix.  17. 


228  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

them  in  Christ's  name  to  be  reconciled  to  God.  Nor 
do  they  beseech  the  less  fervently  because  they 
know  that  the  grace  of  God  alone  can  give  effect  to 
their  persuasions.  Not  the  less  earnestly  do  they 
assure  sinners  that  there  is  mercy  for  them,  if  they 
will  but  lay  hold  on  it ;  grace  for  them,  if  they  will 
but  ask  for  it ;  grace  to  pardon  all  their  sins,  and  to 
subdue  them ;  but  not  grace  to  pardon  sin  without 
subduing  it:  this  they  dare  not  say;  and  therefore 
it  is,  that  the  very  same  persons  who  charge  them 
with  holding  doctrines  which  tend  to  encourage  sin, 
will  often,  by  a  strange  inconsistency,  accuse  them 
of  unnecessary  strictness  and  moroseness  in  decrying 
the  innocent  pleasures  of  the  world.  As  if  the  plea- 
sures of  a  world  lying  in  wickedness  could  be  alto- 
gether innocent;  or  as  if  they  could  afford  any  real 
enjoyment  to  a  soul  which  daily  quenches  its  thirst 
at  a  fountain  of  delights  which  the  world  knows  not 
of, — a  soul  possessing  spiritual  tastes  and  desires:  in 
short,  "  which  is  not  of  the  world,  even  as  Jesus  was 
not  of  the  world."  ^ 

We  now  come  to  the  remaining  part  of  the  above- 
mentioned  charge  against  election,  viz.,  that  it  drives 
people  to  despair.  A  wrong  and  carnal  view  of  it 
may;  but  a  right  and  spiritual  reception  of  it  is  the 
surest  preservative  against  despair.  For  if  God  is 
to  love  us  for  something  in  ourselves,  sure  I  am  that 
he  will  never  love  us  at  all;  for  in  us  dwelleth  no 
good  thing.  But  if  he  loves  us  according  to  his  own 
good  will  and  pleasure,  then  is  our  eternal  happiness 

1  John  xvii.  16. 


ON    ELECTING   GRACE.  229 

secure.  Again,  if  we  come  to  Jesus  of  ourselves,  I 
see  no  reason  to  hope  that  we  shall  endure  unto  the 
end.  The  frailty  and  inconsistency  of  our  nature 
render  it  more  than  probable  that  we  shall  again  go 
away  from  him.  And  thus  this  everlasting  love,  if 
it  depend  on  our  conduct,  must  vary  according  to 
our  changeable  affections;  and  that  Jesus,  who  is 
the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever,  may  love  us 
one  day  and  cast  us  off  the  next ;  may  be  disposed 
this  day  to  say  to  us,  "Come,  ye  blessed  of  my 
Father,"  and  the  very  next  day  may  frown  us  from 
his  presence  with,  "Depart,  ye  cursed."  Is  not  this 
discouraging?  On  the  other  hand,  if  we  come  to 
Jesus,  because  the  Father  hath  given  us  to  Jesus 
and  himself  draws  us  to  Jesus,  then  Ave  may  be  as- 
sured that  he  will  hold  us  fast  to  the  end ;  for  he 
who  is  the  truth  has  declared  that,  "of  all  whom 
the  Father  hath  given  him  he  will  not  lose  one,  but 
will  raise  them  up  again  at  the  last  day."  ^ 

\yhen  any  one  feels  his  heart  drawn  in  strong 
desires  after  God,  what  can  be  more  contrary  to 
despair  than  a  doctrine  which  teaches  him  to  believe 
that  he  never  could  have  been  thus  drawn  unless 
God  had  loved  him  with  an  everlasting  love?  If, 
indeed,  believers  in  election  professed  to  pry  into  the 
secrets  of  futurity,  to  open  the  Lamb's  book  of  life 
and  tell  which  names  are  written  there,  and  which 
are  blotted  thence,  such  unwarrantable  presumption 
would  lead  to  the  most  frightful  consequences.  But, 
on  the  contrary,  they  well  know  that  they  cannot 

1  John  vi.  39. 
20 


230  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

say  of  the  vilest  sinner,  This  man  is  not  a  chosen 
vessel  unto  the  Lord;  therefore  they  hope  against 
hope,  and,  strong  in  faith,  giving,  glory  to  God,  they 
go  on,  regardless  of  every  discouragement,  inviting 
sinners  to  come  to  him,  and  assuring  them  that 
"  whosoever  will,  may  come  and  take  of  the  water 
of  life  freely."^ 

Feebly  as  I  have  handled  this  intensely  interest- 
ing subject,  I  trust  I  have  said  enough  to  prov^  that 
the  doctrine  of  predestination,  if  we  cleave  simply 
to  the  Scripture  statement  concerning  it,  does  not 
draw  after  it  all  the  train  of  evils  which  have  been 
represented  as  its  necessary  consequences;  that  it 
involves  no  injustice  on  the  part  of  God;  that  it 
neither  drives  men  into  licentiousness,  presumption, 
uncharitableness,  nor  despair.  On  the  contrary,  that 
a  simple  reception  of  it  tends  to  stop  every  cavil 
against  God's  justice,  affords  the  strongest  incentives 
to  holiness  and  self-abasement,  and  is  rather  fitted 
to  fill  the  bosom  with  the  sweetest  hope,  than  to 
render  it  the  gloomy  abode  of  despair. 

But  supposing  even  that  no  satisfactory  answer 
could  be  found  to  these  and  other  objections,  still  it 
is  our  duty  as  believers  in  the  Bible  ever  to  bear  in 
mind  that  the  most  plausible  objections  against  a 
doctrine  do  by  no  means  amount  to  a  refutation  of 
its  truth.  For  "  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God  are 
foolishness  to  the  natural  man,"  and  even  those  who 
are  in  some  degree  spiritual  must  often  feel  that 
they  are  but  "fools,  and  slow  of  heart  to  understand" 
1  Rev.  xxii.  17. 


ON    ELECTING   GRACE.  231 

the  deep  counsels  of  God.  The  real  question,  then, 
for  our  consideration,  as  believers  in  the  truth  of 
God's  word,  is  not,  whether  a  doctrine  be  liable  to 
this  or  that  objection,  but  whether  it  be,  or  be  not, 
clearly  revealed  in  that  word.  If  it  be  not  a  part 
of  the  will  of  God  revealed  to  us  in  the  Scriptures, 
then  must  it  be  utterly  abhorred  and  rejected,  though 
an  angel  from  heaven  were  to  preach  it  to  us.  But 
if  the  doctrine  be  plainly  laid  down  and  strongly 
insisted  on  in  the  Bible,  what  signify  objections  and 
dreaded  consequences?  All  that  is  in  God's  word 
we  are  bound  to  receive  and  teach,  without  fear 
of  consequences.  The  truths  which  God  has  not 
scrupled  to  reveal,  we  need  not  scruple  to  embrace ; 
nay,  we  must  embrace  them  with  meekness  and  af- 
fection, as  a  part  of  that  engrafted  word  which  is 
able  to  save  our  souls.  We  may  safely  leave  the 
consequences  to  him.  He  is  abundantly  able  with- 
out our  help  to  provide  against  any  evil  results  that 
may  ensue  from  a  doctrine  of  his  own  revealing. 
Let  us  not  seek  to  be  wiser  than  God. 

To  conclude:  we  contend  not  for  the  doctrine 
of  election^as  held  by  this  or  that  particular  sect, 
or  even  as  handed  down  to  us  in  the  strong  and 
beautiful  language  of  the  reformers,  but  simply 
and  solely  as  it  is  set  forth  in  the  very  words  of  the 
oracles  of  God,  that  is,  in  the  words  of  God  him- 
self We  cannot  be  too  careful  to  expound  our 
views  of  this  doctrine  in  the  very  words,  as  well  as 
according  to  the  exact  sense,  of  Scripture:  then,  if 
any  differ,  and  would   convince  us  of  error,  they 


232  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

must  find  some  other  Scriptures,  in  which  the  truths 
contained  in  ours  are  omitted.  For  let  it  be  re- 
membered that  as  long  as  we  keep  close  to  the 
Bible  we  are  not  answerable  for  the  objections  that 
may  be  made  against  the  Bible.  If  the  doctrine  can 
be  proved  to  be  there,  that  ought  abundantly  to 
suffice  for  the  conviction  of  those  who  believe  that 
all  Scripture  was  written  by  the  inspiration  of  God. 
When  God  speaks,  man's  part  is  to  submit,  not  to 
object.  To  oppose  or  deny  any  thing  that  is  revealed 
in  God's  word,  is  to  make  God  a  liar.  To  cavil  or 
murmur  at  it,  is  to  rebel  against  God.  To  be 
ashamed  or  afraid  of  it,  is  to  call  in  question  the 
goodness  and  wisdom  of  God  in  revealing  it.  To 
receive  it  as  little  children,  and  humbly  pray  for 
light  to  understand  it,  is  the  way  to  become  wise 
unto  salvation.  Let  those  who  profess  to  believe  the 
Bible,  instead  of  wearying  themselves  with  carnal 
reasonings  for  and  against  the  doctrine  of  predesti- 
nation, meekly  consult  their  Bibles,  and  see  whether 
the  doctrine  be  there  or  not.  And  may  the  Spirit 
of  truth  lead  them  into  the  saving  knowledge  of 
this  and  every  other  truth,  for  his  mercies'  sake  in 
Christ  Jesus! 

It  was  my  intention  to  have  concluded  this  little 
treatise  with  a  few  words  on  the  final  perseverance 
of  God's  elect ;  but  this  doctrine  is  so  clearly  implied 
in  that  of  predestination,  that  it  seems  unnecessary 
to  dwell  on  it  very  largely.  For  it  is  impossible  to 
conceive  that  God  will  cast  off  in  time  those  whom 
he  has   chosen   from  eternity.     Perseverance  is   a 


ON    ELECTING   GRACE.  233 

necessary  consequence  of  predestination,  and  accord- 
ingly we  find  that  the  Scriptures  generally  mention 
them  in  connection  -with,  and  in  dependence  on, 
each  other.  It  is  thus  clearly  expressed  in  John  vi. 
37,  39,  44,  65:  "No  man  can  come  to  me  except  the 
Father  which  hath  sent  me  draw  him;  except  it 
were  given  him  of  my  Father.  All  that  the  Father 
giveth  me  shall  come  to  me.  This  is  the  Father's  will 
which  hath  sent  me,  that  of  all  which  he  hath  given 
me  I  should  lose  nothing,  but  should  raise  it  up  again 
at  the  last  day."  Again,  John  xv.  16:  "  Ye  have  not 
chosen  me,  but  I  have  chosen  you,  that  ye  should  go 
and  bring  forth  fruit:"  here  is  election;  "and  that 
your  fruit  shoidd  remain:"  here  is  perseverance. 
"  Moreover,  whom  he  did  predestinate,  them  he  also 
called;  and  whom  he  called,  them  he  also  justified; 
and  whom  he  justified,  them  he  also  glorified."  ^  So, 
then,  if  there  be  truth  in  God's  word,  those  who  are 
predestinated  are  in  every  instance,  without  excep- 
tion, called,  justified,  and  finally  glorified;  and  this 
could  not  be,  if  they  did  not  persevere  to  the  last; 
for  he  only  that  "  endureth  to  the  end  shall  be  saved."  ^ 
Indeed,  how  absurd,  how  impossible,  it  is  to  separate 
these  two  truths!  For  if  the  saints  are  thus  elect 
according  to  the  foreknowledge  of  God,  and  if  they 
are  yet  subject  to  fall  away,  and  perish  at  the  last, 
then  is  the  foreknowledge  of  God  subject  to  fail, 
and  his  predestination  or  purpose  from  all  eternity 
to  be  frustrated. 

We  may  therefore  comfort  our  souls  in  the  full 

1  Romans  viii.  30.  2  Matt.  x.  22. 

20* 


234  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

assurance  "that  faithful  is  he  that  calleth  us,  who 
also  will  do  it."  That  "  God  is  faithful,  by  whom 
we  were  called  into  the  fellowship  of  his  Son." 
"Being  confident  of  this  very  thing,  that  he  which 
hath  begun  a  good  work  m  us  will  perform  it  until 
the  day  of  Jesus  Christ;  will  co7ifirm  us  unto  the  end, 
that  we  may  be  blameless  in  the  day  of  Jesus 
Christ;"  for  "he  hath  declared  that  he  will  never 
leave  nor  forsake  us ;"  and  that  "  he  will  put  his  fear 
in  our  hearts,  that  we  shall  not  depart  from  him."^ 
Since,  therefore,  the  connection  between  these  two 
doctrines  is  so  close  and  intimate  that  it  is  impossible 
to  adopt  the  first  of  them  without  embracing  the 
other,  we  must  account  for  every  apparent  final 
falling  away  after  the  reception  of  God's  grace,  as 
the  beloved  apostle  has  instructed  us  to  do.  "  They 
went  out  from  us,  but  they  were  not  of  us;  for  if  they 
had  been  of  us,  they  would  no  doubt  have  continued 
with  us;  but  they  went  out,  that  they  might  be  made 
manifest  that  they  were  not  all  of  us."  ^  Jesus  giveth 
unto  his  sheep  "eternal  life;  and  they  shall  never 
jjerish;  neither  shall  any  man  pluck  them  out  of  his 
hands."  ^  If  then  any  j^erson,  after  apj^earing  to 
believe,  finally  die  in  a  state  of  unbelief,  the  reason 
is  evident ;  it  is  because  they  are  not,  never  were,  of 
Christ's  sheep ;  even  as  Christ  himself  hath  told  us.* 
"  Fear  not,  little  flock,  for  it  is  your  Father's  good 
2?leasure  to  give  you  the  kingdom."^     But  if  a  wolf 

1  1  Thess.  V.  24;  1  Cor.  i.  9 ;  1  Cor.  i.  8;  Heb.  xiii.  5;  Jer. 
zxxii.  40,  which  compare  with  Ileb.  viii.  8,  10,  11. 

2  1  John  ii.  19.      '  John  x.  28.      *  John  x.  26.      6  Luke  xii.  32. 


ON   ELECTING   GRACE.  235 

in  sheep's  clothing  get  among  the  flock,  it  does  not 
follow  that  he  shall  inherit  the  kingdom,  nor  is  his 
coming  short  of  it  a  falling  away  of  God's  elect ;  but 
only  a  proof  that,  in  spite  of  his  specious  appearance, 
he  never  belonged  to  them.  Such  a  one's  falling 
away  is  no  falling  from  grace,  but  only  a  return  to 
his  natural  propensities,  "  as  the  dog  returns  to  his 
own  vomit,  or  the  sow  that  was  washed  to  her  wal- 
lowing in  the  mire."  ^  And  thus  it  is  whenever  pro- 
fessors finally  fall.  Their  specious  outside  was  such, 
perhaps,  as  to  deceive  not  only  themselves,  but  even 
the  very  elect ;  but  it  could  not  deceive  God.  The 
Lord  hioweth  them  that  are  his.  The  good  shepherd 
knows  his  sheep,  and  his  piercing  eye  will  find  out 
every  intruder  and  drive  them  from  the  fold.  God 
is  not  mocked.  This  man  was  all  along  sowing  to 
the  flesh;  and  therefore  it  is  that  he  is  finally  left 
of  the  flesh  to  reap  corruption.^ 

If  we  carefully  examine  the  passages  which  are 
supposed  to  militate  against  this  doctrine,  we  shall 
find  that  not  one  of  them  is  really  opposed  to  it; 
because  not  one  of  them  supposes  the  apostate  ever 
to  have  been  endued  with  saving  grace.  A  compa- 
rison of  Heb.  vi.  4-8,  with  the  parable  of  the  sower, 
may  convince  us  that  the  fallers-away  there  men- 
tioned are  only  very  aggravated  cases  of  the  stony 
and  thorny  ground  hearers  of  the  parable.  It  is  to 
be  remarked  that  St.  Paul  does  not  compare  them 
to  earth  which  having  once  drank  in  the  rain  from 
heaven,  and  brought  forth  good  fruit,  became  after- 
1  2  Peter  ii.  22.  a  Oal.  vi.  8. 


236  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

wards  barren  and  unfruitful ;  but  he  compares  them 
to  that  which,  unsoftened  by  the  rain  from  heaven 
which  falls  upon  it,  brings  forth  nothing  but  thorns 
and  briers,  as  its  natural  and  sole  production.  Such 
earth  is  not  good  ground  become  bad:  it  is  bad 
ground  which  has  never  been  made  good.  And  it 
receives  the  curse  of  barrenness.  The  barren  fig- 
tree  is  spared  from  year  to  year,  till  the  heavenly 
husbandman  has  digged  about  it  and  dressed  it:  yet 
we  are  told  that  if  it  continue  barren  under  all  these 
advantages,  a  time  will  come  when  even  Jesus  will 
consent  that  it  be  cut  down:  when  even  Jesus, 
coming  to  the  fig-tree  and  beholding  no  fruit,  but 
only  leaves,  will  say,  in  his  wrath,  "  Let  no  fruit  grow 
on  this  tree  henceforward  forever."  So  this  ungrate- 
ful soil,  on  which  the  rain  from  heaven  has  been 
perpetually  falling,  but  on  which  it  has  ever  fallen  in 
vain,  shall  at  length  be  left  to  the  consequences  of 
its  own  obduracy,  and  no  further  pains  bestowed 
upon  it.  And  thus  it  was  with  the  apostate  pro- 
fessors of  whom  St.  Paul  speaks.  These  had  tasted 
the  heavenly  gift,  and  been  made  partakers  of  the 
Holy  Ghost;  that  is,  partakers  of  his  miraculous 
influences  through  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of 
the  apostles  (for  that  no  participation  of  his  saving 
influences  is  here  spoken  of  is  evident  from  the  9th 
verse).  They  had  "tasted  the  good  word  of  God, 
and  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come;"  that  is,  "they 
had  heard  the  word,  and  anon  with  joy  received  it."^ 
Yet  all  this  while  they  had  none  of  those  "things 
1  Matt.  xiii.  20. 


ON    ELECTING   GRACE.  237 

which  accompany  salvation."^  Their  hearts  were 
all  the  time  like  the  stony  ground  in  which  the  good 
seed  takes  no  root;  or  like  the  ground  whence  the 
thorns  and  briers  have  never  been  cleared,  and  which 
must  inevitably  choke  the  good  seed  and  make  it 
unfruitful.  Therefore,  says  St.  Paul  to  such  false- 
hearted professors,  let  them  beware.  For  after  they 
have  tried  God's  patience  to  a  certain  extent,  his 
Spirit  will  no  longer  strive  with  them.  They  are  as 
sure  to  fall  away,  as  a  plant  that  has  no  root  is  sure 
to  wither.  And  when  God  thus  permits  them  to  be 
hardened  through  the  deceitfulness  of  sin,  and  they 
are  left  to  crucify  the  Son  of  God  afresh,  and  put 
him  to  an  open  shame,  then  it  will  be  impossible 
for  any  efforts  of  ours  to  renew  them  to  repentance ; 
for  those  whom  God  thus  leaves  to  themselves,  will 
go  on  hardening  themselves  forever.  That  this  is 
the  sense  of  his  words,  is  evident  from  the  context, 
Heb.  vi.  1-4,  the  meaning  of  which  seems  to  be,  it 
is  of  no  use  to  be  perpetually  laying  the  foundation 
of  your  faith,  and  going  back  to  the  first  rudiments 
of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  for  the  sake  of  those  way- 
side, stony-ground,  or  thorny-ground  hearers,  in 
whom  the  good  seed  will  never  come  to  perfection. 
Let  us  therefore  leave  the  first  principles,  and  go  on 
to  perfection,  for  their  sakes  who,  having  received 
the  word,  and  understood  it,  are  now  prepared  to 
receive  further  supplies  of  light  and  knowledge; 
who,  having  in  them  the  things  which  accompany 
salvation,  will  go  on  from  strength  to  strength. 
1  Heb.  vi.  9. 


238  •         ON    ELECTING    GRACE. 

One  thing  lias  especially  struck  me  in  this  and 
similar  passages.  Amidst  all  the  gifts  and  graces 
mentioned,  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  never 
once  hinted  at  as  having  formed  any  part  of  the 
religion  of  these  false-hearted  professors.  Yet  a 
simple  trust  in  Jesus  is  the  grand  evidence  of  our 
being  in  a  state  of  grace.  "He  that  believeth  on 
the  Son  hath  everlasting  life ;  and  he  that  believeth 
not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life."  ^  Now,  should  these 
pages  meet  the  eye  of  one  of  my  dear  Christian 
brethren  whose  mind,  from  the  weakness  of  his 
faith,  or  the  strength  of  temptation,  may  be  harassed 
by  passages  such  as  these,  it  is  to  this  point  of  a 
simple  belief  in  Jesus  that  I  would  particularly  draw 
his  attention. 

The  sense  of  your  weakness  and  helplessness  fills 
you  with  dismay.  You  often  feel  that,  like  one  of 
the  saints  of  old,  you  are  ready  to  halt;  your  feet 
seem  almost  gone,  your  steps  about  to  slide.  The 
candle  of  the  Lord  has  ceased  to  shine  upon  you, 
and  you  exclaim,  in  your  haste,  I  am  cut  off  from 
before  thine  eyes.  You  look,  perhaps,  for  gifts  and 
graces,  as  evidences  of  your  spiritual  condition;  but 
you  feel  that  you  have  none  to  produce.  Perhaps 
you  have  been  a  backslider  from  the  ways  of  God, 
and  have  gone  on  frowardly  in  the  way  of  your  own 
heart.  And  now  all,  all  seems  gone,  save  a  fearful 
looking-for  of  judgment  and  fiery  indignation,  which, 
having  set  yourself  down  as  the  adversary  of  the 
Lord,  you  are  daily  expecting  to  devour  you.     But, 

1  John  iii.  30. 


ox    ELECTING   GRACE.  239 

beloved,  though  in  the  agony  of  your  self-abasement 
and  condemnation  you  cannot  find  a  single  spiritual 
grace  residing  -within  you,  can  you  not  recollect  a 
time  when  your  faith  laid  hold  on  Jesus  for  salvation  f 
when,  putting  away  all  confidence  in  your  own  de- 
servings,  and  easting  yourself,  as  a  miserable,  guilty, 
and  helpless  sinner,  at  the  foot  of  his  cross,  you 
trusted  yourself  unreservedly  to  him  for  pardon, 
righteousness,  and  strength  ?  If  you  have  thus  done, 
you  have  placed  yourself  in  the  hands  of  One  who 
will  hold  you  fast  to  all  eternity.  He  will  never  let 
you  go,  though  your  weak  and  treacherous  heart 
may  sometimes  seem  to  have  let  go  its  hold  of  him. 
Take  comfort,  then,  and  encourage  yourself  in  the 
Lord  your  God.  Be  assured  that  the  false  professors, 
to  whom  you  would  compare  yourself,  never  had  one 
grain  of  this  saving  faith.  Though  your  faith  be 
weak  and  trembling,  yet  be  not  afraid;  only  believe. 
For  look  what  comfortable  words  our  Saviour  Christ 
speaks  unto  you:  "This  is  the  will  of  him  that  sent 
me ;  that  every  one  which  seeth  the  Son,  and  believeth 
on  him,  may  have  everlasting  life,  and  I  will  raise 
him  up  at  the  last  day.''  ^ 

If  you  cannot  feel  sure  that  you  have  ever  exer- 
cised this  simple,  unreserved  trust  in  your  Lord  and 
Saviour,  endeavour  now  to  commit  yourself  into  his 
hands.  Instead  of  tormenting  yourself  with  so  many 
vain  fears,  cast  yourself  anetv  on  the  mercy  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus,  as  if  you  had  never  been  to  him 
before.     Fall,  just  as  you  are,  into  the  arms  of  his 

1  Joba  vi.  40. 


240  ON   ELECTING   GRACE. 

mercy.  Say  unto  him,  "Lord,  I  believe:  help  thou 
mine  unbelief."  If  you  can  do  nothing  more,  lie 
passive  at  his  feet  until  his  pitying  eye  shall  look 
down  upon  you  and  his  gentle  hand  shall  raise  you 
from  the  dust.  Trust  in  him,  though  he  slay  you. 
Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shall  he 


There  is  another  passage  in  Hebrews  (x.  26-29) 
which  is  sometimes  brought  forward  to  prove  that 
"we  may  fall  away  after  having  received  the  know- 
ledge of  the  truth.  But  this  knowledge  is  evidently 
no  saving  knowledge.  We  may  receive  the  know- 
ledge oj  the  truth  without  receiving  and  embracing 
the  truth  itself.  The  plain  meaning  of  the  passage 
seems  to  be,  that  to  those  who  sit  under  the  light  of 
the  gospel  without  benefiting  by  it,  to  them  it  shall 
be  a  savour  of  death  unto  death ;  that  if,  when  Christ 
has  been  offered  and  his  sacrifice  made  known  to 
us,  w-e  reject  that  means  of  salvation,  there  remaineth 
no  further  sacrifice  for  sin,  "no  other  name  under 
heaven  by  which  we  can  be  saved."  ^  If  we  will  not 
be  reconciled  through  Christ,  God  has  provided  no 
other  way  of  reconciliation. 

Neither  has  the  passage  Heb.  xii.  15-17  any  real 
difficulty  in  it.  For  Esau's  rejection  of  his  birth- 
right was  but  the  natural  effect  of  his  carelessness 
of  the  heavenly  blessings  contained  in  it.  He  had 
never  really  valued  his  birthright;  it  was  as  a  pearl 
cast  before  swine,  which  he  readily  relinquished  for 
the  food  suited  to  his  swinish  nature.  Moreover,  it 
1  Acts  iv.  12. 


ON    ELECTING   GRACE-  241 

did  but  serve  to  justify  Grod's  predestination  con- 
cerning him ;  for  he  had  declared,  before  even  Esau 
was  born,  that  the  elder  should  serve  the  younger. 
Esau's  case,  therefore,  was  not  one  of  apostasy ;  but 
his  conduct,  in  this  instance,  was  only  a  consequence 
of  his  former  obduracy.^ 

Nor  does  the  dreadful  description  in  2  Peter  ii. 
20,  21,  allude  to  a  falling  away  from  grace  once 
received.  For  grace  had  never  cleansed  those  pol- 
luted hearts.  The  earthly,  sensual,  devilish  nature 
had  never  been  in  the  smallest  degree  removed. 
This  affords  no  instance  of  sheep  permitted  to  stray 
everlastingly  from  the  fold;  for  these,  we  are  in- 
formed, were  but  dogs  returned  to  their  own  vomit 
—  swine,  that  had  been  outwardly  washed,  to  their 
wallowing  in  the  mire. 

In  Luke  xi.  21,  22,  we  are  told  that  "when  a 
strong  man  armed  keepeth  his  palace,  his  goods  are 
in  peace;  but  when  a  stronger  than  he  shall  come 
upon  him  and  overcome  him,  he  taketh  away  all  his 
armour  wherein  he  trusted,  and  divideth  his  spoil ;" 
that  is,  that  Satan  keeps  undisturbed  possession  of 
man's  heart,  till  Christ,  who  is  stronger  than  he, 
forcibly  ejects  him  thence,  and  himself  enters  into 
that  soul,  and  dwells  and  reigns  there  forever.  In 
the  24th,  25th,  and  26th  verses  of  the  same  chapter, 
the  unclean  spirit  is  represented  as  voluntarily  going 

1  It  stould  be  remembered,  also,  tbat  the  "repentance"  referred 
to  a  change  of  mind  in  Isaac,  not  in  himself:  compare  verse  17 
with  Gen.  xxvii.  35-40.     The  example  has,  therefore,  no  direct 
connection  with  spiritual  apostasy. 
Q  21 


242  ON    ELECTING   GEACE. 

out  of  a  man,  aud  afterwards  returniDg  with  seven 
other  spirits  more  wicked  than  himself;  so  that  the 
last  state  of  that  man  is  worse  than  the  first.  The 
former  of  these  passages  may  serve  to  explain  and 
illustrate  the  latter,  which  has  sometimes  been  sup- 
posed to  describe  a  state  of  apostasy  after  grace. 
In  the  first  instance  (that  of  real  conversion),  the 
strong  man  armed  keepeth  his  palace,  aud  is  only 
driven  out  by  the  coming  of  "one  stronger  than  he," 
who,  having  possessed  himself  of  the  palace,  will 
hold  fast  his  blood-bought  possession.  Satan  can 
never  resume  his  dominion ;  because,  let  him  come 
when  he  will  to  that  man's  heart,  he  finds  it  occu- 
pied by  "a  stronger  than  himself,"  who  will  never 
let  him  set  his  foot  there.  In  other  words,  when 
Christ  really  takes  up  his  abode  in  a  soul,  Satan's 
power  over  it  is  gone  forever.  He  can  no  longer 
say,  "  I  will  return  to  my  house  whence  I  came  out ;" 
for  he  knows  that  the  house  is  now  Christ's  house, 
and  must  remain  so  till  Satan  is  stronger  than 
Christ.  But  the  second  case  described  is  widely 
different.  Here  the  unclean  spirit  has  secure  pos- 
session of  the  soul ;  he  goes  in  and  comes  out  at  his 
pleasure.  He  has  no  need  to  keep  his  palace  so 
carefully,  because  he  sees  no  one  to  oppose  his  right 
and  title  to  it.  He  leaves  the  man  for  a  time ;  and, 
when  weary  of  his  absence,  he  says,  "I  will  return 
to  my  house  whence  I  came  out."  And  mark  the 
circumstance  of  his  return:  he  findeth  it  '* empty, 
swept,  and  garnished."  *    Some  of  its  outward  abomi- 

1  Matt.  xii.  44. 


ON    ELECTING   GRACE.  243 

nations  have  been  cleared  away  during  his  absence : 
it  has  been  swept  with  the  broom  of  self-righteous- 
ness, and  garnished  with  some  fancied  good  works 
— some  carnal  desire  or  other  for  obtaining  God's 
favour.  But  where  is  the  "  stronger  than  the  strong 
man"?  Who  shall  keep  the  unclean  spirit  out  of  an 
empty  house?  What  wonder  if,  finding  it  thus 
empty,  and  none  to  oppose  his  entrance,  he  go  in 
and  dwell  there  with  seven  other  spirits  more  wicked 
than  himself?  To  divest  the  subject  of  metaphor, 
the  soul  of  this  man,  left  for  a  time  by  Satan  and 
subjected  to  some  self-devised  purification,  may  seem 
to  himself  and  others  to  be  "  washed  from  his  filthi- 
ness ;"  ^  may  be  adorned  with  a  specious  appearance 
of  grace.  But  there  is  no  Christ  in  that  soul,  and 
therefore  there  never  can  really  have  been  any 
grace.  The  doors  of  that  heart  have  never  been 
lifted  up  to  let  the  King  of  glory  in.  The  man  is 
of  himself  wholly  without  strength  to  resist  the  attack 
of  his  spiritual  adversary;  and  as  he  has  never 
applied  for  help  to  "  one  that  is  mighty,"  what  wonder 
if  Satan  lead  him  captive  at  his  will?  This  is  not, 
then,  the  case  of  a  soul  which,  having  received  Christy 
has  fallen  away  from  him,  but  of  one  who  has  never 
received  Christ  at  all.  St.  Paul  says,  "  Examine  your- 
selves, whether  ye  be  in  the  faith ;  prove  your  own 
selves ;  know  ye  not  your  own  selves,  how  that  Jesus 
Cfirist  is  in  you,  except  ye  be  reprobates?"  Now, 
Jesus  Christ  was  not  in  this  man ;  therefore  his  state, 
at  the  time  of  the  return  of  the  evil  spirit,  was  not 
1  Prov.  XXX.  12. 


244  ON   ELECTING   GRACE. 

that  of  the  elect  of  God;  nor  need  his  fall  be  an 
occasion  of  stumbling  to  any  who  know  that  Christ 
abideth  in  them  by  the  Spirit  which  he  hath  given 
them. 

The  true  use  of  the  awful  passages  which  we  have 
been  considering,  is  to  stir  up  every  professing  dis- 
ciple of  the  Lord  Jesus  carefully  to  examine  the 
state  of  his  own  soul.  For  these  scriptures  show  us 
ho\Y  far — how  very  far — a  person  may  proceed  in  an 
apparently  religious  course,  without  having  any  of 
those  things  that  accompany  salvation.  Let  us  not 
try  ourselves  by  any  uncertain  standard.  Strong 
convictions,  highly-excited  feelings,  fair  appearances 
of  our  conduct,  may  exist,  while  all  the  time  we 
have  neither  part  nor  lot  in  the  matter,  because 
our  hearts  are  not  right  in  the  sight  of  God.  But 
"hereby  do  we  know  that  we  know  him,  if  we  keep 
his  commandments."^  "Hereby  know  we  that  we 
dwell  in  him,  and  he  in  us,  because  he  hath  given 
us  of  his  Spirit."  ^  "  And  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is 
love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  goodness, 
faith,  meekness,  temperance."^  "We  know  that  we 
have  passed  from  death  unto  life ;  because  we  love 
the  brethren."  *  "  The  foundation  of  God  standetli 
sure,  having  this  seal.  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that 
are  his.  And,  Let  every  one  that  nameth  the  name 
of  Christ  depart  from  iniquity."^  We  are  "kept 
by  the  power  of  God  through  faith  unto  salvation."* 
Has  God  given  us  this  faith?     Have  we  "a  living 

1  John  ii.  3.  2  i  John  iv.  13.  »  Qal.  v.  22,  23. 

*  1  John  iii.  14.  5  2  Tim.  ii.  19.  ^  1  Peter  i.  5. 


ON    ELECTING   GRACE.  245 

faith" ?^  Does  it  enable  us  to  endure  "as  seeing 
liim  who  is  invisible"?^  To  "look  not  at  the  things 
■svhich  are  seen  and  terhporal,  but  at  the  things 
which  are  unseen  and  eternal"?'  Does  it  "work  by- 
love,"  "  overcome  the  world,"  quench  the  fiery  darts 
of  the  devil?* 

These  are  some  of  the  marks  which  God  has  given 
us  to  examine  ourselves  by.  These  are  things  which 
do  accompany  salvation.  "Every  plant,"  says 
Jesus,  "  which  my  heavenly  Father  hath  not  planted^ 
shall  be  rooted  up."^  Would  ive  know  whether  we 
are  thus  planted  only  to  be  rooted  up,  or  whether 
we  are  "trees  of  righteousness,  the  j^^anting  of  the 
LordJ'^  "which  shall  still  bring  forth  fruit  in  old 
age,  and  shall,  to  the  end,  be  fat  and  flourishing"?'^ 
Let  us  examine  whether  we  be  filled  with  the  fruits 
of  righteousness  which  are,  by  Jesus  Christ,  unto  the 
glory  and  praise  of  God.^ 

I  would,  in  conclusion,  most  earnestly  beseech  all 
who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  in  sincerity,  not  to  dis- 
honour their  Lord  by  doubting  of  his  faithfulness 
to  keep  them  to  the  end.  "Jesus  Christ  is  the  same 
yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  forever."^  If  he  loved 
us  yesterday,  he  loves  us  to-day,  and  he  will  love  us 
forever;  and,  as  long  as  his  love  to  us  lasts,  so  long 
will  ours  to  him;  for  ours  is  tl.e  eficct  of  his.  As 
long  as  he  loves  us  with  an  everlasting  love,  so  long 

1  James  ii.  26.  «  Heb.  xi.  27.  .     ^  2  Cor.  iv.  18. 

*  Gal.  V.  6;  John  v.  4;  Eph.  vi.  16.  ^  Matt.  xv.  13. 

6  Isa.  Ixi.  3.  7  Psalm  xcii.  14.  8  phil.  i.  H. 

9  Heb.  xiii.  8. 


246  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

with  lovmg-kindness  will  lie  draw  us ;  and,  as  long 
as  he  draws  us,  we  shall  run  after  him.  Let  us  not 
stagger  at  the  promises  of  God,  through  unbelief; 
but  let  us  be  strong  in  faith,  giving  glory  to  God, — 
glory  to  the  love  which  first  brought  us  out  of  our 
low  estate,  glory  to  the  faithfulness  which  will  never 
leave  us  till  it  has  perfected  that  which  concerns 
us.  And  when  we  are  assaulted  by  foes  within  and 
without,  and  hemmed  in  by  so  many  dangers  that 
we  are  ready  to  exclaim,  "  I  shall  one  day  perish  by 
the  hand  of  the  enemy,"  even  then  let  us  against 
hope  believe  in  hope,  that  the  Lord  shall  deliver  us 
from  every  evil  work,  and  will  preserve  us  unto  his 
heavenly  kingdom.^ 

Let  the  weak  and  trembling  believer  look  well  to 
every  part  of  the  everlasting  covenant,  and  lay 
hold  of  the  strong  consolation  contained  in  it.  Let 
him  remember  who  are  the  parties  in  this  covenant, — 
the  trinity  in  unity  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  man 
Christ  Jesus,  who  is  also  Jehovah  Jesus,  appearing 
on  behalf  of  the  children  of  the  covenant,  on  the 
other.  For  the  saints  are  "elect  according  to  the 
foreknowledge  of  God  the  Father,  through  sanctifi- 
cation  of  the  Spirit,  unto  obedience  and  sprinkling 
of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ:"^  they  are  admitted 
into  the  outward  pale  of  the  covenant  (by  the  sign 
of  baptism),  "the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  :"^  and  they  are  made 
partakers  of  the  "  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  love  of  God,  and  the  communion  of  the  Holy 

1  2  Tim.  iv.  18.  2  1  Poter  i.  2.  ^  Matt,  xxviii.  19. 


ON    ELECTING    GRACE.  247 

Ghost." ^  According  to  the  "counsel"  and  "eternal 
purpose"  of  this  triune  Jehovah  was  the  everlasting 
covenant  established;  "according  to  the  purpose  of 
him  who  worketh  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his 
own  will:"'^  "whose  counsel  endureth  forever,  and 
the  thoughts  of  his  heart  to  all  generations:"*  "with 
■whom  is  no  variableness,  neither  shadow  of  turning :"  * 
"who  changeth  not:"*  "who  is  not  a  man  that  he 
should  lie,  nor  the  son  of  man  that  he  should  re- 
pent:"^ "the  God  that  cannot  lie:"^  "the  Lord  God 
of  truth  :"^  "whose  word  is  true  from  the  beginning, 
and  every  one  of  his  righteous  judgments  endureth 
forever:"^  "who  will  be  ever  mindful  of  his  cove- 
nant :"  ^"  for  he  is  "  the  faithful  God,  which  keepeth 
covenant  and  mercy." ^^  "A  God  of  truth  and 
without  iniquity,  just  and  right  is  he."^^  This  cove- 
nant-keeping God  is  our  Father,  for  he  is  the  "God 
and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  the  other 
party  in  the  covenant ;  yea,  himself  the  Surety  of  the 
covenant  of  peace,  our  Surety  for  good.  This 
Surety  of  ours  has  performed  his  part,  that  is,  our 
part,  in  the  everlasting  covenant.  He  has  been 
"  cut  off,  but  not  for  himself;  has  made  reconcilia- 
tion for  iniquity,  and  brought  in  everlasting  right- 
eousness."^' Justice,  by  releasing  our  Surety  from 
the  prison  of  the  grave,  and  permitting  him  forever 

1  2  Cor.  xiii.  14.  2  Eph.  i.  5,  9,  11,  and  iii.  11. 

'  Psalm  xxxiii.  11.  *  James  i.  7.  ^  Mai.. iii.  6. 

^  Num.  xxiii.  19.  ''  Titus  i.  2.  ^  Psalm  xxxi.  5. 

»  Psalm  cxix.  160.  ^  Psalm  cxi.  5. 

"  Deut.  vii.  9;  1  Kings  viii.  2:3;  Neh.  i.  5;  Dan.  ix.  4. 
i-J  Dcut.  xxxii.  4.  13  Dan.  ix.  24,  20. 


248  ON   ELECTING  GRACE. 

to  sit  down  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on 
high,  has  proclaimed  herself  fully  satisfied,  and 
unable  to  claim  from  him  or  from  us  one  jot  or  one 
tittle  more  in  the  way  either  of  doing  or  of  suffering.^ 
"Who  is  he  that  condemneth?  It  is  Christ  that 
died,  yea,  rather,  that  is  risen  again ;  who  is  even  at 
the  right  hand  of  God,  w^ho  also  maketh  intercession 
for  us.'"^  And  he  is  able  to  "save  them  to  the 
uttermost  that  come  unto  God  by  him,  seeing  that 
he  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them :" '  and 
that  the  Father  "heareth  him  always."*  He  is 
gone  "  to  appear  in  the  presence  of  God  for  us ;"  ^ 
to  be  our  advocate  with  the  Father;^  our  "High 
Priest  over  the  house  of  God."'  Moreover,  "it 
pleased  the  Father  that  in  him  should  all  fulness 
dwell :"^  and  "out  of  his  fulness  have  all  we  re- 
ceived, and  grace  for  grace." '  "  All  the  promises" 
of  the  covenant  "in  him  are  yea,  and  in  him 
amen:"^"  for  God  hath  declared  that  "his  covenant 
shall  stand  fast  with  him.""  "As  for  me,  this  is  my 
covenant  with  them,  saith  the  Lord ;  my  Spirit  that 
is  upon  thee,  and  my  words  which  I  have  put  in  thy 
mouth,  shall  not  depart  out  of  thy  mouth,  nor  out 
of  the  mouth  of  thy  seed,  nor  out  of  the  mouth  of 
thy  seed's  seed,  saith  the  Lord,  from  henceforth  and 
forever." ^'^    Thus  "ordered  in  all  things  and  sure"^' 

1  Rom.  iv.  25.  2  Rom.  viii.  34.  3  Heb.  vii.  25. 

4  John  xi.  42.  ^  Heb.  ix.  24.  ^  i  John  ii.  1. 

7  Heb.  X.  21.  8  Col.  i.  19.  »  John  i.  16. 

10  2  Cor.  i.  20.  »  Psalm  Ixxxix.  28.  12  iga.  lix.  21. 
13  2  Sam.  xxiii.  5. 


ON   ELECTING   GRACE.  249 

is  the  everlasting  covenant  which  God  hath  made 
with  his  people.  It  was  "confirmed  of  God  in 
Christ  before  the  world  was:"^  confirmed  by  the 
promise  and  oath  of  God,  those  two  "immutable 
things  in  which  it  was  impossible  for  God  to  lie:"* 
and,  being  thus  confirmed,  "none  shall  ever  disannul 
or  add  to  it."'  "My  covenant  will  I  not  break, 
nor  alter  the  thing  that  is  gone  out  of  my  lips. 
Once  have  I  sworn  by  my  holiness,  that  I  will  not 
lie  unto  David"*  (i.e.  David's  Lord,  as  is  evident 
from  the  context).  "I  will  make  an  everlasting 
covenant  with  them,  that  /  will  not  turn  away  from 
them  to  do  them  good"  (here  is  Gods  faithfulness)^ 
"but  I  will  put  my  fear  into  their  hearts,  that  they 
shall  not  dej^art  from  me""  (here  is  our  perseve- 
rance.) "The  mountains  shall  depart,  and  the  hills 
shall  be  removed ;  but  my  kindness  shall  not  depart 
from  thee,  neither  shall  the  covenant  of  my  peace 
be  removed,  saith  the  Lord  that  hath  mercy  on 
thee."^  "I  will  make  an  everlasting  covenant  with 
you,  even  the  sure  mercies  of  David:"'  and  how 
sure  those  mercies  are,  may  be  seen  from  Jer.  xxxiii. 
20,  26.  "  Thus  hath  the  Lord  sent  redemption  unto 
his  people;  he  hath  commanded  his  covenant  for- 
ever; holy  and  reverend  is  his  name."®  Holy,  holy, 
holy.  Lord  God  of  Hosts!  The  whole  earth  shall 
be  full  of  thy  glory!     Salvation  to  our  God  which 

1  Gal.  iii.  17,  and  Eph.  i.  4.  2  Heb.  vi.  17,  18. 

3  Gal.  iii.  15.  ♦  Psalm  Ixxxix.  34,  35. 

*  Jer.  xxxii.  40.  6  isa.  liv.  9,  10. 

'  Isa.  Iv.  3.  8  Psalm  cxi.  9. 


250  ON    ELECTING   GRACE. 

sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb,  for  ever 
and  ever! 

That  blessed  child  of  the  covenant,  Hooker,  has 
expressed  his  faith  in  the  final  perseverance  of  God's 
elect  in  terms  so  beautiful  and  glorious  that  I  can- 
not close  this  little  work  without  inserting  them. 
"  Blessed  for  ever  and  ever  be  that  mother's  child 
whose  faith  hath  made  him  the  child  of  God.  The 
earth  may  shake,  the  pillars  of  the  world  may- 
tremble  under  us,  the  countenance  of  the  heavens 
may  be  appalled,  the  sun  may  lose  his  light,  the 
moon  her  beauty,  and  the  stars  their  glory;  but 
concerning  the  man  that  trusted  in  God,  if  the  fire 
have  proclaimed  itself  unable  as  much  as  to  singe 
a  hair  of  his  head,  if  lions,  beasts  ravenous  by 
nature,  and  keen  with  hunger,  being  set  to  devour, 
have  as  it  were  religiously  adored  the  very  flesh  of 
the  faithful  man ;  what  is  there  in  the  world  that 
shall  change  his  heart,  overthrow  his  faith,  alter  his 
affection  towards  God,  or  the  affection  of  God  to 
him  ?  If  I  be  of  this  note,  who  shall  make  a  sepa- 
ration between  me  and  my  God?  Shall  tribulation, 
or  anguish,  or  persecution,  or  famine,  or  nakedness, 
or  jyeril,  or  sword  f  No ;  I  am  persuaded  that  neither 
tribulation,  nor  anguish,  nor  persecution,  nor  famine, 
nor  nakedness,  nor  peril,  nor  sword,  nor  death,  nor 
life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalitieSj  nor  powers,  nor 
things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor  height,  nor 
depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  ever  prevail  so  far 
over  me.  /  know  in  whom  I  have  believed;  I  am 
not  ignorant  whose  precious  blood  has  been  shed  for 


ON    ELECTING    GRACE.  251 

me;  I  have  a  shepherd  full  of  kindness,  full  of  care, 
and  full  of  power;  unto  him  I  commit  myself;  his 
own  finger  hath  engraved  this  sentence  in  the  tables 
of  my  heart,  Satan  hath  desired  to  ivinnow  thee  as 
wheat,  bat  I  have  prayed  that  thy  faith  fail  not: 
Therefore  the  assurance  of  my  hope  I  will  labour  to 
keep,  as  a  jewel,  unto  the  end;  and,  by  labour, 
through  the  gracious  mediation  of  his  prayer,  I  shall 
keep  it." 


THE   END. 


/ 


